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i Memories 
11 Octogenarian 



WILUAM T. DAVIS 

i\ 

'ory of riymouth,"' "Ancient I, .".mi marks of Plymouth," Uiatory of 
i>isachu8ett» Judiciary." n.isto'-v -f "The Massachusetts Bar," etc. 

Form<;r J' im 8c>';lety 

Honor8r.¥ Mf-mbu .. Hisiorteal Society 

Honi.rarv Menibor of tbeOid Colony HiBtoriciil Society 



•A Jrre that's «ev«tiscf icom its tad 



PBIKtBIl UT THB MBMORL&i 



Plymouth Memories 
of an Octogenarian 



BY 

WILLIAM T. DAVIS 

I] 

Author of "History of Plymouth."' "Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth," History of 

"The Massachusetts Judiciary," History of "The Massachusetts Bar," etc. 

Former President of the Pilgrim Society 

Honorary Member of the Connecticut Historical Society 

Honorary Member of the Old Colony Historical Society 



"A tree that's severed from its root 
Can beair no longer flowers or fruit; 
A nation that forgets its pasi 
Is without root and cannot last." 



PBINTED BY THE MEMORIAL PRESS. I'LTMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS 



(V-j^M 't' 



Uitift/inv -f OONQRESsI 

DEC 31 !906 

CLASS 6«^ AAc N), 



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COPY A. 






Copyrighted, 1906. 

By Bittinger Brothers^ 

Plymouth, Mass. 



V. 



PREFACE 

By the death of every person somethincr within the range of 
his study and knowledge is lost beyond recovery. In publish- 
ing this book of memories it is my desire to rescue from ob- 
livion persons and events coming under my observation during 
a long life, and to make a record of habits, customs and fashions 
which have prevailed at different periods within my knowledge. 
The book is not intended to be either in any sense an autobio- 
graphy, or a mere collection of interesting reminiscences, but a 
legacy which I wish to leave for the benefit of those coming af- 
ter me. I cannot permit its publication without a grateful ac- 
knowledgment of the service rendered durinq- its preparation 
by friends too numerous to be mentioned by name in contribut- 
ing material essential to its approximate completeness and ac- 
curacy. 

Wm. T. Davis. 



DEDICATION 



/ dedicate this book to my children with the hope that they 

tvill remember with love and pride their native tozvn, 

and be ahvays ready to render it useful service. 

WM. T. DAVIS. 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES OF AN 
OCTOGENARIAN 



CHAPTER I. 

Introductory. 

In writing these memories I have in mind both the old and 
the young. With the old I may perhaps clear away some of 
the cobwebs which obscure their backward glance and reopen 
to their vision vistas of the past. With the young I may 
perhaps show how their fathers and grandfathers lived, 
and how through the results of their careers, the comforts and 
luxuries of the present generation have been evolved from the 
simple habits and ways of living of those who have gone be- 
fore. An important lesson may be learned by the young, that, 
in this process of evolution, the achievements of today are only 
the culmination of the continuous labors of earlier generations ; 
that all we are, and all we know, came to us from our fathers ; 
and that the wonderful inventions and discoveries of which we 
boast, as if they were ours alone, would have been impossible 
without the lessons taught by the inventors and discoverers 
who blazed the way for our feet to tread. 

Let me premise, without intending to enter the domain of 
history, by answering three questions, which, perhaps oftener 
than any others, are asked by visitors, and by young Plymouth- 
eans who are beginning to study the career of their native 
town. The first question is — how and from whom did Plym- 
outh receive its name ? This question has been somewhat con- 
fused by the intimation of some writers that the name owes its 
origin, at least in part, to the Pilgrims. The facts show con- 
clusively that such is not the case. In 1614 John Smith ar- 
rived on the coast of New England in command of an expedi- 
tion fitted out under the patronage of Sir Ferdinando Gk)rges, 
the Governor of the castle in old Plymouth. Anchoring his 



6 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



ships near the mouth of the present Penosbcot river he em- 
barked in a shallop to explore the coast, with the hope of mak- 
ing such discoveries of mines of gold and copper, and of find- 
ing such opportunities of obtaining a cargo of fish and furs, as 
would at least defray the expenses of his expedition. While 
on his exploring trip he "drew a map from point to point, isle 
to isle, and harbor to harbor, with the soundings, sands, rocks 
and landmarks," and gave the country the name of New Eng- 
land instead of \''irginia, the name by which it had been 
previously known. Making a chart of the coast from the Pen- 
obscot to Cape Cod, he placed it on his return in the hands of 
Gorges, who submitted it to the inspection of Prince Charles, 
afterwards Charles the first, who affixed to it the names of 
three localities, which have adhered to them up to the present 
time. These were, Plymouth, probably named in honor of 
Gorges, the governor of the Plymouth castle, and the patron 
of Smith's expedition ; Charles River, named after himself, and 
Cape Ann named after his mother, Ann of Denmark. Other 
names affixed by the Prince were Stuard's Bay for Cape Cod 
Bay, Cape James for Cape Cod, Oxford and London for two 
localities between Plymouth and what is now Boston, Cheviot 
Hills for the Blue Hills, and Bristol, Southampton, Hull, Ips- 
wich, Dartmouth, Sandwich, Cambridge and Leith. 

Nathaniel Morton, in his New England's Memorial, publish- 
ed in 1669, suggested that the Pilgrims adopted the name for 
the above reason, and also because "Plymouth in old England 
was the last town they left in their native country, and because 
they received many kindnesses from some Christians there." 
It seems to me that Morton was unfortunate in the use of lan- 
guage. If he had said that the name given by Prince Charles 
was agreeable to the Pilgrims on account of its associations 
with their last port of departure, he would have undoubtedly 
spoken the truth, but it should not be stated that a name, al- 
ready conferred on the landing place of the Pilgrims, was origi- 
nated five years after its well known place on Smith's map. 
That the Pilgrims knew of the name there can be no doubt. 
Capt. Thomas Dermer was at Plymouth in the summer of 
1620, and wrote a letter to Gorges, dated, Plymouth, in July 
of that year, advising any colony of fifty or more to settle 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 7 

there. That letter must have reached Gorges before the May- 
flower sailed from old Plymouth on the 6th of September, and 
of its contents the Pilgrims must have been made acquainted 
by Gorges, who was their adviser and friend. Besides, Ed- 
ward Winslow wrote a letter to England from "Plymouth in 
New England," dated December nth, 1620, the very day of 
the Landing, a date too early for any formal action to have 
been taken by the Colony concerning a name for the locality ; 
and further, Winslow uses the term, "New England," a title 
which Smith alone had given to the Northern part 01 Virginia, 
and which probably appeared nowhere else than on his map. 

The second question is — when was Plymouth incorporated. 
The direct answer to this question, that Plymouth was never 
incorporated, would be very unsatisfactory without some ex- 
planation of the relations existing between the Colony and the 
town of Plymouth. It is all very well to speak of the settle- 
ment of the town instead of its incorporation, and fix the date 
at 1620, but the precise time, when the line was drawn between 
the colony and town, and when the town was clothed by of- 
ficial authority with the functions of a municipality, it is impos- 
sible to fix. In the records of 1626 Plymouth is called a plan- 
tation ; in a deed dated, 1631, from John to Edward Winslow, 
the town of Plymouth is referred to; in accordance with the 
law passed by the General Court requiring towns to choose 
constables, one was chosen in Plymouth in 1633; and in 1638 
at a meeting held for the purpose of considering the disposi- 
tion of the gift of stock by James Sherley of London for the 
benefit of the poor of the town, it was decided "that the town 
should be considered as extending from the lands of Wm. 
Pontus and John Dunham (now the lands of Thomas O. 
Jackson) on the south, to the outside of New street (now 
North street) on the north. Finally in the year 1637 the first 
entry in the town records was made, and on the second day of 
November, 1640, it was ordered at a meeting of the Court of 
Assistants that "whereas by the Act of the General Court held 
the third of March in the sixteenth year of his Majesties now 
reign, the Governor and Assistants were authorized to set the 
bounds of the several townships, it is enacted and concluded by 
the Court that the bounds of Plymouth township shall 



8 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

extend southwards to the bounds of Sandwich town- 
ship, and northward to the httle brook falhng into Black 
Water from the commons left to Duxbury, and the neighbor- 
hood thereabouts, and westward eight miles up into the lands 
from any part of the bay or sea; always provided that the 
bounds shall extend so far up into the woodlands as to include 
the South Meadows toward Agawam, lately discovered, and 
the convenient uplands thereabouts." But notwithstanding 
all these references, it is enough to say that Plymouth wa^ 
settled in 1620, but never formally incorporated. 

The third question is : What was the disease which carried 
off one-half of the Plymouth Colony during the first four 
months after the landing. In answer to this question only 
plausible conjectures can be made. Various theories have 
been suggested by medical men and others, but unfortunately 
insufficient data as to the symptoms and general characteristics 
of the epidemic have been handed down to us to enable any 
definite diagnosis to be made. Some have suggested small- 
pox, and some yellow fever, some cholera and some quick con- 
sumption. Some also have raised the question whether the 
germs of the disease, which swept off the Indians living in 
Plymouth four or five years before, still lurking in the soil or 
in vegetation, might not have retained sufficient vitality to de- 
velop in the human system. This last suggestion would af- 
ford little satisfaction, for the question would remain unsolved 
as to the nature of the disease. After much thought given 
to the matter, I have come to what I think is the most natural 
conclusion, that the disease was what was well known in the 
days of Irish immigration, before ocean steam navigation was 
available, as ship fever. Many readers will remember that 
packet ships and transient vessels were constantly arriving at 
New York and Boston, crowded with immigrants — after long 
passages from England, and that long confinement below deck 
resulted frequently in the breaking out of ship fever and caused 
serious mortality. The voyage of the Mayflower from South- 
ampton to Cape Cod harbor was more than ninety days in 
length, and during that time imperfect ventilation and inade- 
quate nourishment in a vessel of only one hundred and eighty 
tons, carrying within her walls one hundred and twenty crew 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN, 9 

and passengers, must have furnished all the conditions neces- 
sary for the presence of that terrible infection, which in our 
own day was so fatal to the immigrants from Ireland. 

Let me further premise, in closing this introductory chapter, 
by saying that, of events occurring during a period of seventy- 
five years, of the changes in the external character of Plym- 
outh, and of the manners and customs and ways of living of 
its people, I have a distinct recollection. Some of these, at a 
still earlier period, I can imperfectly recall. For instance in 
1825, when I was a few months more than three years of age, 
my mother carried me on a visit to her father in Shelbume, 
Nova Scotia, and while 1 recall nothing of the voyage made in 
a fishing schooner on her way to the Grand Banks, the accur- 
acy of my memory concerning many localities in Shelburne, 
was confirmed on a visit to that place twenty-six years later in 
185 1. My grandfather, Gideon White, a native of Plymouth, 
and a descendant from Peregrine White, was a loyalist during 
the revolution, and, holding a Captain's commission in the 
British army, served with his regiment in Jamaica during the 
war. With other loyalists he settled in Shelburne, where, 
receiving the appointment of Provincial Judge, he afterwards 
lived, making occasional visits to England, but none to the 
United States, until his death in 1833. He married Deborah 
Whitworth, the daughter of Miles Whitworth, a British Army 
surgeon, and four of his children married in Boston and Plym- 
outh and Cambridge, while a son graduated at Harvard in 
1812. 

I remember, too, that at the age of four, in 1826, I was car- 
ried to my first school. It was kept by Mrs. Martha Weston, 
who was known as Mrs. Patty, or more generally Ma'am Wes- 
ton, the widow of Coomer Weston, and grandmother of our 
townsman, Myles S. Weston, in the house on North street, the 
third below that of Miss Dr. Pierce, not long since occupied 
by Wm. W. Brewster. I remember well the school room, its 
sanded floor and the cricket on which I sat. From that dear 
old lady, with a pleasant smile and kindly voice, I first tasted 
the "sweet food of kindly uttered knowledge." She died July 
27, 1841, and but few of her scholars can now be left to join 
with me in blessing her memory. 



10 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER II. 

Before proceeding to a general consideration of the streets 
and ways of Plymouth, and their changes, this is a fitting place 
to refer to an important alteration, in one of its chief highways, 
which, though occurring during my life time, is a little beyond 
the scope of my memory. In ancient times the route from 
Plymouth to Sandwich was through the district of "half way 
ponds," which thus received its name. When a stage line 
between the two towns was established the route ran through 
Chiltonville, leaving Bramhall's corner on the right, and pass- 
ing over Eel River bridge, turned to the right and by a diagon- 
al course reached a point on the present road near the estate of 
Air. Jordan. At that time the road through Clark's valley 
by the cotton factory extended no farther south than the cross 
roads leading to the Russell Mills on the west, and by the old 
Edes & Wood factory on the east. 

In 1825 this road was extended, making a junction with the 
old road, and thus establishing the present Plymouth and Sand- 
wich highway. 

In 1830 there were in Plymouth, north of Bramhall's corner 
in Chiltonville, seventeen streets so called, thirteen lanes, three 
squares, nine places and ways, and four alleys, concerning all 
of which something will be said in their order. The streets 
were Court, Rowland, Main, North, Water, Middle, Leyden, 
School, Market, Spring, High, Summer, Pleasant, Sandwich, 
Commercial, Green and South streets. Court street, which 
took its present name by a vote of the town in 1823, owes its 
origin to no formal laying out. It practically followed the old 
Massachusetts path, and was a way of necessity gradually 
evolved from a footway, and bridle path, and cart way to its 
present condition. There is a tradition, which needs confirma- 
tion, that opposite the head of the present Murray street, it 
once made a detour to the west through the valley in the rear 
of the houses of Mr. Charles G. Hathaway and others, and 
came out into the present road at some point beyond Cold 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. II 

Spring. There seems to have been no necessity for such a de- 
tour, and no available route for it to pursue, and I am inclined 
to the belief that the tradition is unfounded. There is another 
tradition, which may also be distrusted, that Tinker's Rock 
Spring, now known as Cold Spring, was removed by an earth- 
quake in 1755 from the east to the west side of the street, where 
it now flows. There can be no doubt that it once flowed on 
the east side, but I was told by Mr. John Kempton Cobb, who 
always lived in the neighborhood of the spring, and would be 
now, if he were living, one hundred and nineteen years of age, 
that it was moved by owners of a pasture on the west side to 
supply water for their cattle. Within my own knowledge for 
many years the water after it left the pipe, turned into and out 
of the pasture referred to, before it crossed the street and 
passed through the Nelson field on its way to the harbor. 
When the trench was opened in 1904 for the purpose of lay- 
ing a sewer, I noticed chat the water from the site of the old 
spring on the east side was conveyed to the present outlet, 
through a pipe laid across the street, for which the story of the 
earthquake would fail to account. The boundaries of Court 
street, notwithstanding widenings and straightenings in va- 
rious places, have remained practically as they were in 1830, 
except in two places. Until 1851, at what is now the head of 
Murray street, there was a watering place on the east side, 
through which teams were driven to water their horses. In 
the above year the easterly line of the street was straightened, 
and the old watering place thrown into the adjoining lots. 
The brook at this place was called "second brook" by the Pil- 
grims, the "first brook" being that which in my boyhood was 
called "Shaw's brook," and which flows, or recently did flow, 
between the houses of Mrs. Helen F. Hedge and Mr. Ripley, 
through pipes under the brick block to the harbor. The 
above mentioned "second brook" flows from a spring just 
within the lot on the west side of the street, and the bridge 
over it was long ago the tenninus of the evening walks of lov- 
ing couples who, as they turned for home formally re- 
christened the bridge in the most natural way as "Kissing 
bridge." The other place where the street underwent an im- 
portant change was at the corner of North street, which in 



12 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

1892 was cut off to meet the necessities of travel then increas- 
ed by the recent construction of the street railway. 

The greatest change which Court street has passed through 
in my day, has been brought about by the rows of elm trees 
along its sidewalks, all of which have been set out since 1830, 
and most of them as far as Cold Spring by the late Andrew L. 
Russell, to whose public spirit the town is chiefly indebted for 
one of its crowning glories. In the above year the only 

shade trees within the bounds of Main and Court streets, be- 
tween Town Square and Cold Spring, were two ash trees in 
front of the house on the southerly corner of North street. 
North of the trees set out by Mr. Russell were the old mile 
tree, which stood in front of the estate of the late Joab Thomas, 
and the trees beyond the estate of Mrs. Knapp, for which the 
town is indebted to the late Leavitt T. Robbins, father of our 
late townsman of the same name. The mile tree was struck 
by lightning in 1829, and not long after was blown down and 
replaced by that now standing. The beauty which these trees 
have added to the town, even lending grace and ornament to 
the many houses of ordinary styles of architecture along Court 
street, suggests a remark made many years ago by John Quincy 
Adams, while walking with a friend one bleak cloudy day in 
March, in reply to his companion who had expressed a wonder 
that the Pilgrims settled here. "Oh," Mr. Adams answered, 
"you must remember that there were no houses here then." 
Mr. Adams must have been another Jonathan who 

"Said he could not see the town 
There were so many houses." 

Rowland street was laid out August 6, 1728, by Thomas 
Rowland, through his land, and by deed of that date, under 
the name of Rowland street, was dedicated to public use. For 
more than a hundred years it extended only as far as the pres- 
ent westerly line of the Gas works land, though originally laid 
out to the shore, but on the tenth of September, 1859, it was 
formally laid out in accordance with the original intent of Mr. 
Rowland. 

Main street, once called Ranover street, like Court street, 
was one of the original ways, not formally laid out, but from 
time to time changed along its lines. The first important 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. I3 

change was effected May 26, 185 1, by straightening- the wester- 
ly line from the corner of the land now ow^ned by Wm. P. Stod- 
dard, to the Plymouth Bank Building. Up to that time the 
Thomas house, now the Plymouth tavern, had a from yard per- 
haps twenty feet deep, and the law office of Wm. Thomas was 
on the southeast corner of the lot. Next south of the Thomas 
house and land, was an old house built out to the Thomas line, 
and both estates were cut off at the above date, thus establish- 
ing the present line of the street. Another important change 
was made August 3, 1886, by running a new line on the wester- 
ly side from the bank to Town Square, moving all the buildings 
back to the line, and giving the street at the narrowest point 
between Middle and Leyden streets, a width of fiftv-eight feet 
seven inches. Its present name of Main street was adopted 
by the town in 1823. Middle street was laid ouc August 6, 
1725, by Jonathan Bryant, Consider Rowland, Isaac Little and 
Mayhew Little, owners of the land "for and in consideration of 
the public good, and for the more regular and uniform situa- 
tion of the town of Plymouth, and to be forever hereafter call- 
ed King street." At the time of the revolution it informally 
received its present name, which was finally adopted by the 
town in 1823, and on the 6th of March, 1899, it was widened 
to its present width. The way from the foot of the street to 
Water street, which for the purposes of this narrative, may be 
considered a part of the street, was laid out September 21, 
1768, and Alay 13, 1807. 

Two remarkable coincidences have occurred in connection 
with Middle street. In the early part of the i8th century one 
of the Bryant family kept a tavern on the corner of Main and 
Middle streets, which is called on the records Bryant's tavern, 
and in 1834 Danville Bryant kept a tavern on the same site. 
The other coincidence relates to the third Parish, which was 
established in Middle street, and built a meeting house in 1744, 
where the house occupied by Mr. Frink now stands. Rev. 
Thomas Frink of Rutland, Vt., was settled as its pastor, and 
more than a hundred years later our present townsman, bearing 
the same name, came to Plymouth, and now lives on the same 
site. These coincidences are constantly occurring as if men 
were mere puppets following unconsciously certain predestin- 



14 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

ed lines. When the Plymouth Woolen Mill went into opera- 
tion about 1865, a Scotchman by the name of Fernside was 
employed as a wool sorter. After the manufacture of flan- 
nels was abandoned he bought and settled on land in Duxbury, 
which a man of the same name occupied more than two hun- 
dred years before. A stor}- of what perhaps may be called a 
coincidence, was told me by our townsman Wm. Burns. He 
came from Scotland, and on his arrival between 1850 and i860, 
was employed in the Cordage Company's store at Seaside. 
One day a man drove up to the store, and as he alighted, Mr. 
Burns said to him, "Good morning, Mr. Glass, — when did 
you come over?" "What do you mean by coming 
over?" replied the man. "Why, from Scotland," said 
Mr. Burns. "I never was in Scotland, my ancestors have 
lived in Duxbury since about 1640." "Is not your name 
Glass?" continued Mr. Burns. "Yes," said the man. 
"Why, I thought you were Mr. Glass, a neighbor of 
mine in Scotland," said Mr. Burns. This may, however, not 
have been a coincidence, but a remarkable perpetuation of a 
family type. I have had in my own experience more than 
one illustration of the descent of family types, through many 
generations, one of which recently occurred. A stranger met me 
in the street and asked me if I was Mr. Davis. I said, "Yes, 
and your name is Rowland." "How do you know that ?" he 
asked, "I have never seen you before." I said, "I know by 
your hand with its web fingers," instances of which I have 
known in five generations of the family of Henry Howland, 
one of the early members of the Plymouth Colony. It is true 
that he might have descended from a female Howland, and 
thus borne another name, but I was right in calling him by 
that name. 

North street was laid out in 1633, and at various times was 
called New street. Queen street, Howland street and North 
street, which last name was adopted by the town in 1823. The 
upper half of the street, on its northerly side, has been changed 
since 1830 by the erection of the following houses; that of Dr. 
Brown, built in 1833 by Jacob Covington, on the site of the old 
Marcy house; the next house built in 1830 by Rev. Frederick 
Freeman, the pastor of the Trinitarian Congregational church ; 
the easterly addition of the house of the late Edward L. Barnes 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. I5 

on the site of the house of Capt. William Rogers, and the 
house now occupied by Isaac M. Jackson, built about 1850, by 
Thomas T. Jackson, on the site of a house, which within my 
memory, was occupied by William Morton Jackson, and Rich- 
ard Bagnall and others. 

On the upper half of the street on the southerly side the fol- 
lowing houses have been built since 1830; that built in 1838 by 
Ebenezer G. Parker, the cashier of the Old Colony Bank, and 
now occupied by the Misses Russell ; that built in 1832 by Mrs. 
Betsey H. Hodge, recently occupied by Mrs. Thomas B. Drew; 
that occupied by Benjamin A. Hathaway, and built by Abra- 
ham Jackson on the site of one previously occupied by him, 
which was built about 1745 by Colonel George Watson; and 
finally the public library building built by the heirs of William 
G. Russell and Mary Ellen, his wife, on a part of the old Jack- 
son land. 

On the lower half of the street there have been several 
changes in its boundaries. From the way leading to the oil 
works, as Winslow street was called, at a point in front of the 
Willoughby house, there was for many years a way with steps 
running easterly and reaching the street below at an acute 
angle, thus breaking the continuity of the stone wall bounding 
the street. About 1858, while I was chairman of the select- 
men, the board discontinued this way. and rebuilt the wall on 
a continuous line. 

On the other side of the street there was another way with 
steps at its upper and lower ends opening opposite the norther- 
ly door of the Plymouth Rock House, and reaching the street 
below immediately above the house which stood on the corner 
of Water street. This way has also been discontinued by the 
selectmen. Through mv youth a row of balm of Gilead trees 
stood below the wall extending from the elm tree in front of 
the house of Mrs. Ruth H. Baker to the way above mention- 
ed. The Linden tree standing on the corner of Cole's Hill, 
has an interesting romance associated with it. The tree was 
planted by a youthful couple as a memorial of their engage- 
ment, and when not long afterwards, in 1809, the engagement 
was discontinued, and the memorial was no longer prized by 
the lady in whose garden it had been planted, she one day pull- 



i6 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



fd it up, and threw it into the street. My father, who hap- 
pened to pass at the time, picked it up and planted it where it 
now stands. He Hved in the house now known as the Plym- 
outh Rock House, where he died in 1824, and under his care- 
ful nursing it survived its treatment, and has grown into the 
beautiful tree, now blessing so many with its grateful shade. 
In that house I was born in 1822, and lived until I was more 
than twenty years of age, and hundreds of times I have climb- 
ed the branches of the Linden, often with book in hand, seek- 
ing shelter from the summer sun. 

North street received a new laying out February 11, 1716, 
and still another on the 7th of October, 1765, and after the es- 
tates on Water street below Cole's Hill had been bought by the 
Pilgrim Society in 1856, and other dates, land was thrown out 
by the society, and the corner rounded. 

So far as the houses on the lower half of North street are 
concerned, several changes have occurred since 1830. In my 
boyhood the double house now partly occupied by Miss Cath- 
erine Kendall, was a single house, occupied by the widow of 
Edward Taylor, who was then the wife of John Blaney Bates, 
whom she married in 1807. After the death of Mrs. Bates 
and her husband, whom I well remember, Jacob and Abner 
Sylvester Taylor, sons of Mrs. Bates, remodelled the house 
and divided it into two tenements. John Blaney Bates, the 
second husband of Mrs. Taylor, was one of the m.ost skilful 
masons and master builders in southeastern Massachusetts, and 
was largely engaged in enterprises in other towns. He built 
the Plymouth Court House in 1820, the Barnstable Court 
House, and as many as eight or ten brick or stone dwelling 
houses on Summer street and Winthrop Place in Boston. A 
contract to build a house of hammered stone for George Bond 
m Winthrop Place, pro\-cd a disastrous one, and terminated his 
business career. After the failure of Whitwell and Bond, the 
house referred to was sold to Henry Cabot, the grandfather of 
Henry Cabot Lodge, and occupied by him until Winthrop 
Place was extended to Franklin street, and made a part of the 
present Devonshire street. Mr. Bates, as I remember him, 
was in his later days an mveterate sportsman, and would often 
spend hours behind an ice hummock, when the harbor was par- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. VJ 

tially frozen, waiting for a possible shot at ducks in a sheet of 
open water near by. He died in 1831. 

His stepsons, the Taylor brothers, who learned their ma- 
son's trade with him, also became skilful workmen and con- 
tractors in Plymouth and neighboring towns. In 1824 they 
built Pilgrim Hall for the Pilgrim Society, and Mr. Taylor 
told me that when they signed the contract in July, the stone 
was lying undisturbed in a virgin rock on the easterly side of 
Queen Ann's turnpike in Weymouth, and the timber stood un- 
cut in the forests of ]\Iaine. So expeditiously, however, was 
the work performed that the hall was occupied by the Society 
at the anniversary celebration in the following December. 

The house next east of the Taylor house was built in 1829 by 
the Messrs. Taylor on land of the Taylor estate. The Taylors 
had completed in that year their contract to build Long wharf 
and, having considerable material left, they put it into this 
house. I remember hearing it said that the partitions, and 
perhaps the walls, were constructed of some of the plank used 
in covering the wharf, and were consequently unusually solid 
and firm. The story was told that when Deacon Wm. P. Rip- 
ley, who bought the house, went to inspect it, he was told by 
one of the brothers that the partitions were so impervious to 
sound that conversation could not be heard from room to room. 
To confirm his statement he invited the Deacon to test it. Af- 
ter the doors were closed, the Deacon in one room and Mr. 
Taylor in another, the former called out loudly — "Do you 
hear?" and the answer "No," came promptly back. The Dea- 
con evidently was willing to take Mr. Taylor's word, thus 
confirmed, and bought the house. Deacon Ripley, son of Na- 
thaniel and Elizabeth (Bartlett) Ripley, was born in Plymouth 
in 1775, and after his first marriage in 1805, owned and occu- 
pied the house on Summer street, which after 1845 was owned 
and occupied by Benjamin Hathaway. He kept a dry goods 
store in that house many years, and after the sale of the house 
in 1833 to the heirs of Robert Dunham, the store was occupied 
by the millinery establishment of j\Irs. Thomas Long, one of 
the heirs. After giving up the store. Deacon Ripley entered 
into a partnership with his son-in-law, Andrew S. March, in 
Boston, under the firm name of Ripley & March, 21 Central 



l8 PLY^tOUTH MEMORIES 

Street, but finally returned to Plymouth and took the store 
afterwards occupied by Southworth Barnes, on the site of the 
present Sherman block. He died November lo, 1842, and in 
the next year the house on North street was sold to Phineas 
Wells, to whom reference will be hereafter made. 

Within my recollection no persons have been universally 
called Deacons, irrespective of their church connections, be- 
sides Deacon Ripley and Deacon John Hall. The latter was 
many years Deacon of the Baptist church, and was a farmer 
living at the corner of Court and Hall streets, where he raised 
a family of sons, well known by the last generations as indus- 
trious, useful and worthy citizens. 

In his church he was the supervisor of every act. I remem- 
ber that on one occasion the minister announced from the pul- 
pit that on the next Thursday evening ''the Lord willing, there 
will be a prayer meeting in this house, the weather permitting, 
if Deacon Hall has no objections, and on Friday evening, 
whether or no." 

In middle life the Deacon bought a sloop and employed her 
in fishing, and in taking fishing parties into the bay. He scorn- 
ed the fishing ledges generally resorted to, such as the Offer 
ledge, the House ledge, Faunce's ledge and the Thrum Caps, 
and fished on ledges of his own, the bearings of which he kept 
to himself. I was with him once, one of a party of ten, and 
before ten o'clock, the party caught one hundred and sixty 
cod and one hundred and forty haddock. In those days had- 
dock were thought an inferior fish, and were difficult to dis- 
pose of in the Plymouth market at one cent a pound. In fact, 
they were not even dignified by the name of "fish," and I re- 
member hearing a servant ordered to get a fish at the fish 
market, and if he could not get a fish, to get a haddock. 

But some critical person found worms between the flakes 
of a codfish, and then another discovered that a haddock made 
a superior fry, and still another that in a chowder the flesh 
of a haddock was firmer than that of a codfish, and finally 
both came to be held in equal estimation. In my early days no 
lover of salt cod would eat anything but dunfish, and Deacon 
Hall was the only person in Plymouth, who cured them, 
Swampscott being generally looked to for a supply. They re- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. I9 

ceived their name from their dun color, which was of a red- 
dish brown. They were caught in the spring, slack salted, 
and when partially dry, piled in a dark room covered with sea- 
weed. After several weeks they were replied, and after 
several weeks more, they were ready to be eaten. 

In my mother's day short, thick fish were selected for the 
table, and every Saturday three were served with a napkin 
above and below, the upper one being removed to the kitchen, 
and the middle one eaten, while the other two supplied minced 
fish for Sunday's breakfast, and the Monday washing day 
dinner. A slice of dunfish cut up with potatoes, beets, carrots 
and onions, well covered with pork scraps and sweet oil, judi- 
ciously peppered, makes a dinner, which, with the white salt 
fish of today, it is impossible to prepare. Fish balls were not 
in vogue in my early days, but gradually took the place of 
mince fish, especially Sunday morning. Baked beans, now 
improperly called distinctively a New England dish, were 
according to my recollection, unknown in Plymouth, and were 
associated exclusively with Beverly, whose people were called 
Beverly beaners. A story was told of a vessel at sea running 
down to a schooner in distress, and finding that she was from 
Beverly, and out of beans. The first dish of baked beans I 
ever saw, was on a club dining table in Cambridge, after I 
entered college in 1838. 

Deacon Hall understood the art of making a chowder as 
well as that of curing dunfish, or if his fishing party preferred 
a muddle, that is, a chowder with no potatoes and less liquor, 
he was equally skilful. Real lovers of fish and seafaring men 
T have generally found liked the muddle, as perhaps the fol- 
lowing incident will attest. Capt. Ignatius Pierce, a man of 
dry humor, spent a number of years in California, never in- 
timating in his letters any intention of an immediate return 
home. His wife, about nine o'clock one morning, received a 
telegram from him in Boston, merely saying, "have a muddle 
for dinner." 

The good Deacon would have been amused at the following 
description of the ingredients of a genuine New England 
chowder by a professor of modern languages in the University 
of Virginia, in a work published by him in 1872, "A many 



20 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

sided dish of pork and fish, potatoes and bread, onions and 
turnips all mixed up with fresh chequits and seabass, black 
fish and long clams, pumpkinseed, and an accidental eel, well 
peppered and salted, piled up in layers, and stewed together." 
If such a dish as that had been placed before the Deacon he 
would in a changed form have followed the directions for 
cooking a coot — to wit, shoot your coot, pick it, parboil it, stuff 
it, roast it, baste it, and then throw it away. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 21 



CHAPTER III. 



During my early life a house stood in North street between 
the house of Mrs. Ruth H. Baker and the present Plymouth 
Rock House, concerning the occupants of which I must say a 
word. It was a double house, the westerly end of which was 
occupied by Ebenezer Drew, his wife Deborah, or Aunt Deb- 
by, as she was called, and his brother Malachi. Ebenezer had 
no children and Malachi was a bachelor. They were the salt 
of the earth and the salt had not lost its savor. Without the 
three it would have been difficult for some of the neighbors, 
including my mother, to keep house. Malachi repaired the 
leaks in the roof, eased the doors, mended the chairs and kept 
the house generally in running order. Uncle Eben did the 
chores, fed and scratched the pig, sawed, split and piled the 
wood and wheeled our corn to the mill, taking care that Syl- 
vanus Maxim, the miller, did not take out too much toll. In 
those days, every family bought or raised its own com and 
sent it to the mill to be ground. When the steamboat arrived, 
if one happened to be running, Eben was always on the wharf 
with his handcart ready to take the luggage of passengers to 
their homes. I can see the old man now scraping with his jack- 
knife the apples I occasionally gave him, which, with his loss 
of teeth, he could neither bite nor chew. He died January 6, 
1851, at the age of yj years. 

But chief of "the blessed three" was Aunt Debby. She as- 
sisted in making soap and candles, would nurse the sick, diag- 
nose the various diseases of children, such as measles, by their 
smell, administer picra and "yarb" tea, staunch the blood of a 
cut finger with cobwebs and with the buds of the balsam pop- 
lar, or balm of Gilead, heal the wound. She was the forerunner, 
too, of those who with no more accuracy than she exhibited, 
foretell the number of a winter's snow storms. In my college 
vacation my first visit was always to her, and at Thanksgiving 
time it was often my privilege to bear a turkey and a couple 
of pies to her scanty board. She died April 15, 1844, at the 
age of 72. Peace to her ashes. 



22 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

The easterly part of the house was occupied by WilHam 
Collingwood, a worthy and intelHgent EngHshman, the father 
of our respected townsmen, George and James Bartlett Col- 
lingwood. He had been a manufacturer of pottery in Sunder- 
land, in the shire of Durham, but owing to reverses he was 
induced to come to America, and took passage in 1819 with 
Capt. Flasket of Nantucket, bringing with him his wife Elea- 
nor (Harrow) Collingwood and two sons, George and Wil- 
liam, one year old. He settled in Nantucket, the home of Capt. 
Flasket, where he remained until 1825, when James Bartlett, 
who, with others, owned two ships in the whale fishery, in- 
duced him to come to Flymouth and take charge of the oil and 
candle works then recently established, which were situated 
between the house of the late Jesse R. Atwood and the shore. 
As long as the works remained in operation he was at their 
head, and afterwards for a time kept a restaurant at the comer 
of North and Water streets. He died in Flymouth in 1866, 
at the age of 76, and his wife died in 1884, at the age of 90. 
Three of Mr. Collingwood's sons died in the civil war. Joseph 
W., born in Nantucket January 5, 1822, was captain in Com- 
pany H, 1 8th Massachusetts regiment, and died in a field hos- 
pital December 24, 1862, of wounds received at the battle of 
Fredericksburg on the 13th of that month. John B., born 
December 30, 1825, was adjutant of the 29th Massachusetts 
regiment and died in St. John's Hospital in Cincinnati, August 
21, 1863. Thomas, born November 10, 1831, was a corporal 
in Company E, 29th Massachusetts regiment, and died at Camp 
Banks, Crab Orchard, Ky., August 31, 1863. 

In 1843 Mrs. Collingwood was summoned to England to 
secure by identification an inheritance of property. She had 
then reached middle life, but, nevertheless, without a com- 
panion or attendant, she sailed on the ist of July in the above 
year in the Cunard steamer Columbia, from Boston for Hali- 
fax and Liverpool. The Columbia, like all the earliest boats 
of the Cunard line, was a paddle wheel boat of about 1,200 
tons. I know very well what those boats were, for I made a 
passage in the Hibernia of the same line in March, 1847, and 
T often wonder that in such small crafts, with one wheel buried 
in every roll of the sea, passengers were willing to expose 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN, 23 

themselves to the hazards of a winter passage. On Sunday, 
the second day out, when 240 miles from Boston, while still 
in charge of the pilot who, in accordance with the custom pre- 
vailing while the steamers called at Halifax, remained on 
board, the Columbia, in a thick fog, having been carried out of 
her course by an unusual Bay of Fundy current, struck a 
sloping rock on Black Ledge about a mile and a quarter from 
Seal Island, and 25 miles from Barrington, Nova Scotia, the 
nearest port on the mainland. Fortunately the sea was smooth 
and when the fog lifted a fishing schooner nearby came to the 
ship and with the boats of the steamer transferred to the island 
the passengers, 95 in number, including those in the steerage, 
and 73 officers and men, with luggage and the mails. The 
cargo was eventually saved, but the ship was a total loss. 
While on the island a sort of colonial government was estab- 
lished with Mr. Abbot Lawrence of Boston, one of the pas- 
sengers at its head, to prevent excsses and possible disturb- 
ance, and a passing vessel was sent to Halifax with news of 
the wreck. In due time the steamer Margaret took them to 
that port, most of the passengers and crew continuing their 
passage in her to Liverpool. For the kindness and attention 
shown to Mrs. Collingwood by Mr. Lawrence she was always 
grateful. The valet of Mr. Lawrence was James Burr, a col- 
ored boy from Plymouth, who often with pride recounted to 
me the story of his adventure. 

It is a little singular that our townsman, Robert Swinburn, 
recently deceased at an advanced age, came to Plymouth when 
a young man from Sunderland, the town in which Mr. Col- 
lingwood lived, and where he also was engaged in the em- 
ployment of a potter, and should twenty years later than the 
voyage of Mrs. Collingwood have been also summoned to 
England for the purpose of obtaining an inheritance. A cir- 
cumstance connected with the loss of the Columbia, which re- 
minds us of the changes which have occurred in the facilities 
of communication, is the fact that the news of the wreck, 
which occurred on Sunday, the 2d of July, did not reach Bos- 
ton until Sunday, the 9th. 

I have given the loss of the Columbia a prominence in these 
memories because it was the only loss which the Cunard com- 



24 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

pany has suffered during its career of 64 years, except that of 
the Oregon, a steamer sold to the company by another hne 
after a colhsion and a transfer of her passengers to another 
vessel, which foundered near Fire Island. Two other ocean 
steamers had been previously lost, the President, with all on 
board, in 1841, and the West India packet steamer Solway, 
off Corunna, in April, 1843, with her captain and fifty lives. 

Returning from this digression to North street, from which 
1 have wandered long and far, I wish to correct a statement, 
based on misinformation, made by me in "Ancient Landmarks 
of Plymouth," that the Willoughby house, built by Edward 
Winslow in 1755, was confiscated. Mr. Winslow held the 
office of collector of the port of Plymouth, registrar of wills 
and clerk of the superior court of common pleas, and the 
salaries from these offices, though he was not a rich man, 
enabled him to live in luxury and ease. He was generous to 
the poor and lavish in his entertainment of families in the aris- 
tocratic circles. He was a loyalist of the most pronounced 
type, and consequently lost his offices at the breaking out of 
the revolution. As nearly as I can learn from family records 
he remained in Plymouth several years, evidently assisted by 
friends, some of whom in a quiet way shared his loyalty to the 
king. In December, 1781, he reached the British garrison in 
New York with a part of his family, the remainder joining 
him at a later period. Sir Henry Ginton allowed him a pen- 
sion of £200 per annum, with rations and fuel. On the 30th 
of August, 1783, he embarked with his wife, two daughters 
and three colored servants from New York and arrived at 
Halifax on the 14th of September. He died in Halifax the 
next year, 70 years of age. The house in question was taken 
on execution by his creditors, consisting of the town of Plym- 
outh, Thomas Davis, William Thomas, Oakes Angier and 
John Rowe, and in 1782, 1789, 1790 and 1791 it was sold by 
the above parties to Thomas Jackson. In 1813 it passed under 
an execution from Thomas Jackson to his cousin, Charles 
Jackson, the father of the late Dr. Charles T. Jackson and Mrs. 
Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

Edward Winslow, son of the above, graduated in Harvard 
in 1765, and at the time of the revolution was naval officer of 



i 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 25 

the port of Plymouth and held the offices of clerk of the court 
and register of probate jointly with his father. He joined the 
British army in Boston and went with Lord Percy on his 
disastrous expedition to Lexington and Concord, and was later 
appointed by Gen. Gage collector of Boston and register of 
probate for Suffolk county. At the evacuation of Boston, 
March 17, 1776, he went with the army to Halifax, where he 
was made by Sir William Howe secretary of the board of gen- 
eral officers, of which Lord Percy was president, for the dis- 
tribution of donations to the troops. He afterwards went to 
New York and was appointed muster master general of the 
forces, and acted in that capacity during the war. In 1779 he 
was chosen by refugees in Rhode Island to command them, 
and served during two campaigns. After the war he was mili- 
tary secretary until the death of his father, and in 1785 went 
to New Brunswick, where he held the positions of king's coun- 
sellor and paymaster of contingencies, and died in 181 5. 

In the Winslow house above referred to Ralph Waldo 
Emerson married, August 22, 1835, Lydia Jackson, daughter 
of Charles and Lucy (Cotton) Jackson. I have a distinct 
recollection of the first time I ever saw Mr. Emerson, and I 
have no doubt that it was the first time he ever visited Plym- 
outh. It was, I feel sure, in 1833, soon after he left the pulpit 
of the Second Unitarian church in Boston and after he had 
begun his career as a lecturer. It is said that his first lecture 
was delivered before the Boston Mechanics Institute on the 
very practical subject of "Water." At the time referred to 
he lectured in Pilgrim Hall on Socrates, and was the guest of 
Nathaniel Russell, whose daughter, Mary Howland Russell, 
born in 1803, was an intimate friend of Lydia Jackson, born in 
1802. I believe that I am justified in assuming that on that 
visit he first saw his future wife. I remember well his appear- 
ance and manners on the lecture platform, and as a boy of 
eleven years I thought him oracular and dull. In the same 
year the wandering piper with his kilt and bagpipe appeared 
also in Pilgrim Hall, and Potter, the ventriloquist, entertained 
audiences by swallowing swords, and I am almost afraid to 
say that the exhibitions gave me more pleasure than the lec- 
ture. But my eyes had not at that early age been opened. 



26 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Dr. Holmes once asked an English gentleman to whom he had 
just been introduced, how he liked America, and on receiving 
the reply that he had been in the contry only nine days, told 
him that a pup required only nine days to open its eyes. But 
the doctor never hesitated to sacrifice courtesy for the sake of 
a joke, as the following story will further show: Hearing one 
evening at a party the name of a gentleman present, whom he 
had never seen before, he asked him if he were a relative of 
an apothecary of that name, and on receiving the answer that 
he was his son, he told him that he thought he recognized in 
his face the 'liniments" of his father. But to return to Mr. 
Emerson, my eyes have been opened. 

In concluding the changes which have occurred in North 
street within my recollection, it only remains to be said that 
the Manter building on the corner of Water street was re- 
moved in 1859 from Pilgrim wharf, and stands on land form- 
erly occupied by a tenement house, and by a small one-story 
building occupied by Thomas Maglathlen. 

Water street, including its extension, was laid out by va- 
rious acts of the town, as follows : On the i6th of Feb- 
ruary, 1715, in 1762, on the 4th of April, 1881, the 9th of De- 
cember, 1893, and the 22d of June, 1895. The changes on the 
extension of the street, caused by the erection of the woolen 
mill of Mr. Mabbett, the utilization of the old Jackson lumber 
yard by Mr. Craig and the erection of the Brockton and Plym- 
outh trolley electric plant, have been so recent that no refer- 
ence to them is necessary. With the exception of the foun- 
dry, which was built to take the place of the foundry burned 
in 1856, and the electric light building on the corner of Ley- 
den street, no new structure has changed in my day the gen- 
eral character of the street. 

In my youth, and later, there were eight buildings on the 
westerly side of the street between North street and the steps 
at the foot of Middle street. In the rear of these houses 
there were two terraces supported by stone walls, and some 
of the houses were entered by flights of steps leading down 
from the top of the hill. In 1856, and in the years immed- 
iately succeeding, the Pilgrim Society bought all these estates, 
and after the removal of the houses graded the slope as it is 
seen today. The granite steps from the surface of the hill 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 27 

to the canopy over the Rock was built by private subscription. 
The graded bank is the property of the Pilgrim Society, and 
the surface of the hill, which belongs to the town, was placed 
by a vote of the town under the superintendence and care of 
the society. 

Until recently there were also eight buildings between the 
way leading to the Middle street steps and the grass bank 
on Leyden street. By the will of J. Henry Stickney of Bal- 
timore, who died May 3, 1893, the sum of $21,000 was given 
to a board of trustees for the purpose of buying and remov- 
ing these houses and grading the bank. The board of trus- 
tees consists of the chairman of the selectmen, the presidents 
of the two national banks, the president and secretary of the 
Pilgrim Society, the president of the Plymouth Savings Bank, 
and the judge of probate and treasurer of Plymouth county, 
and their successors in said offices. All the estates have 
been bought except that owned by Winslow Brewster Stand- 
ish, and the grading as far as practicable has been done. 

The only remaining change in the street to be referred to is 
tliat associated with Pilgrim wharf and the Rock. Until 1859 
the wharf was devoted to commercial uses. In that year the 
upper part of the wharf came into the possession of the Pil- 
grim Society, and the building which had stood on the north- 
erly corner of the wharf was moved to the comer of Water 
and North streets, and eventually came into the possession of 
Mr. Manter, its present occupant. 

Two buildings on the south side, between the wharf and 
the store of Mr. Atwood, were also bought by the society and 
removed. That on the comer had for many years been occu- 
pied in its lower story by a cooper shop and in its upper story 
by the sail loft of Daniel Goddard, and the other had been oc- 
cupied as a store successively by Richard Holmes, Holmes & 
Scudder, Holmes & Brewster and John Churchill. 

In 1883 the Pilgrim Society bought the entire wharf, and 
after removing the store houses standing on it fitted it for 
£ steamboat landing exclusively. The corner stone of the 
canopy over the Rock was laid on the 2d of August, 1859, and 
the structure was completed in 1867. It was designed by 
Hammatt Billings, but follows very closely the plan of the 
Arch of Trajan built on one of the moles of the harbor of 



28 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Ancona on the shores of the Adriatic. The use of scallop 
shells on its top was suggested by the fact that this shell was 
the emblem worn by the Pilgrims on their way to the Holy 
Land. The word Pilgrim, as applied to the Plymouth colo- 
nists, was never used, as far as I can learn, for more than a 
hundred and seventy years after the landing. They were 
called "first-comers" and "forefathers" until 1794, when Judge 
John Davis, in his ode written for the anniversary celebration 
in that year first used the word "Pilgrim" in the following 
verse : 

"Columbia, child of heaven, 
The best of blessings given, 

Be thine to greet ; 
Hailing this votive day, 
Looking with fond survey. 
Upon the weary way. 

Of Pilgrim feet." 

The next use of the word was made by Samuel Davis in a 
hymn written by him for the celebration in 1799, the first 
verse of which is as follows : 

"Hail Pilgrim fathers of our race! 

With grateful hearts your toils we trace. 
Again this votive day returns 
And finds us bending o'er your urns." 

The word was undoubtedly suggested to Judge Davis by 
a casual remark of Governor Bradford in his history of 
Plymouth Plantation expressing the regret of the colonists at 
leaving Leyden, as follows : "But they knew they were Pil- 
grims, and looked not much on those things but lifted up their 
eyes to the heavens, their dearest country, and so quieted their 
spirits." The first use of the scallop shell associated with 
the Plymouth Pilgrims was at the anniversary celebration in 
1820, when at the ball in the evening some young ladies hung 
a shell suitably decorated on the breast of Mr. Webster, the 
orator of the day. It simply expresses the sentiment that 
man is a wayfarertravellingtoward another and a better world. 
I have seen it somewhere stated that it was worn by the Pil- 
grims returning from the Holy Land, and if such is the case as 
the scallop is abundant on the shores of the Mediterranean, it 
may have been adopted to attest their pilgrimage. In the 
chamber of the canopy are deposited four skeletons of Pilgrims 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 29 

buried in the winter of 1620-1 on Cole's Hill, which were dis- 
covered in 1854 by workmen digging a trench for laying wa- 
ter pipes in Carver street, a little south of the foot of Middle 
street. 

Before concluding what I have to say concerning Water 
street with its business, its stores and their occupants, I wish 
to refer more particularly to Plymouth Rock and its history, 
to supply necessary links in the chain of my narrative. Its 
first public recognition as the landing place of the Pilgrims oc- 
curred in 1742, after a grant had been made to individuals by 
the town of a strip of land extending from the top of Cole's 
Hill to low water mark, for the purpose of building a wharf. 
Thomas Faunce, the third elder of the Plymouth church, born 
in 1647, was ten years old when Governor Bradford died in 
1657, twenty-six years old when John Plowland died in 
1673, thirty-three years old when George Soule died in 
1680, and forty years old when John Alden died in 1687, all of 
whom were Mayflower's passengers. Hearing of the pror 
posed wharf, and believing that the Rock would be buried 
from sight, he gathered on the spot his children and grand- 
children and told them the story of the landing, which he had 
received from the Pilgrims themselves. Dr. James Thacher 
was told of this incident by witnesses of the scene, and 
through the channel of his history of Plymouth, the authen- 
ticity of the Rock has become a matter of historic record. 

The second recognition of the Rock as the place of the 
landing, occurred in 1774, when the inhabitants of Plymouth 
vinder the lead of Col. Theopilus Cotton assembled about it 
with about twenty yoke of oxen, with the view of removing it 
to Liberty Pole square, as they called Town square, and con- 
secrating it to the shrine of liberty. In attempting to raise 
it it separated into two parts, one of which was permitted to 
remain and the other was carried to its destination. There 
it remained until 1834, resting against the lower elm tree on 
the southerly side of the square. In that year the fourth of 
July was celebrated bv its removal to the front yard of Pil- 
grim hall. A procession, of which Capt. Samuel Doten was 
marshal, preceded by the school children of the town, escorted 
a decorated truck bearing the Rock, then weighing 6.997 
pounds, which was followed by a model of the Mayflower 



30 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

mounted on a car and drawn by six boys, of whom I was one. 
The Plymouth Band and the Standish Guards performed es- 
cort duty, and on reaching Pilgrim hall an address was deliv- 
ered by Dr. Chas. Cotton, and a prayer was made by Rev. Dr. 
James Kendall. The ceremonies of the day closed with a din- 
ner served in the basement of the hall by Danville Bryant, 
proprietor of the Pilgrim House, at which Hon. Nathaniel 
AI. Davis presided, assisted by Hon. Isaac L. Hedge, Abraham 
Jackson, John Bartlett 3d, Nathaniel Wood and Eliab Ward 
as vice presidents. In June of the next year the Rock, in its 
new place, was inclosed by an iron fence designed by George 
W. Brimmer of Boston, the designer of the Gothic meeting 
house of the Unitarian parish, and so remained until 1880, 
when it was removed without display and placed within the 
canopy on that part of the Rock from which it was separated 
one hundred and six years before. The iron fence has since 
that time served to inclose a granite memorial in front of Pil- 
grim Hall bearing on its face the text of the Pilgrim compact. 
As far back as I can recall, in 1832, Water street retained 
much of the business aspect, which had characterized it for 
about seventy-five years. The whaling and fishing industries 
were active and prosperous and Boston had not yet drawn 
away from Plymouth any considerable portion of its foreign 
trade. Molasses and sugar from the West India Islands, salt 
from Turks Island and Cadiz, and iron from Gothenberg, con- 
tinued to come in, the last free of that burdensome duty, which 
lias destroyed the iron industries of the old colony. I can hear 
today the rattling of the bars which Stephen Thomas and 
others carted through our streets to the various manufac- 
tories established in Plymouth, Carver, Wareham, Plympton 
and Kingston. I can count within my micmory twenty-six estab- 
lishments engaged in the manufacture of iron in Plymouth 
county, while with only two or three exceptions the few now 
at work are in a languishing condition. I have letters in my 
possession written in Plymouth, opposing the imposition of 
high duties, and predicting as a result of their operation the 
very conditions which now exist. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAX. 3 1 



CHAPTER IV 



Living as I did on Cole's Hill through my youth, I have a 
distinct recollection of Water street and its business as far 
back as 1832. During the summer I spent much of my time 
out of school hours sculling a boat, or climbing vessels' rig- 
ging. At those times my special playmate was Winslow 
Whiting, who during the last years of his seafaring life com- 
manded the bark Volant, and when the brig Hannah was in 
her berth on the north side of Hedge's wharf we laughed at 
the boys crawling through the lubber hole, while we proudly 
mounted the futtock shrouds. 

At that time there were on Water street fourteen stores, 
three counting rooms, two blacksmith shops, two pump and 
blockmakers' shops, two painters' shops, one sail loft, one rig- 
ging loft, perhaps six cooper shops, one carpenter's shop, a 
wood carver's loft, and on the eight wharves leading from the 
street, sixteen storehouses. The stores were occupied by 
James Spooner, I. L. and T. Hedge, Richard Holmes, George 
Cooper, Elkanah Bartlett, William Nye, Josiah Robbins, At- 
wood L. Drew, Charles Bramhall, Phineas Wells, Levi Barnes, 
Scudder and Churchill, Leander Lovell and Henry Tillson. 

James Spooner was the son of Deacon Ephraim Spooner, 
and lived all his life in the house on North street, now occu- 
pied by the widow of his grandson, James Walter Spooner. 
He occupied a store in the building still standing at the head 
of what is called Long Wharf. He owned several schooners 
engaged in the Grand Bank fishery, among which were the 
Swallow, Seneca and Leo. In the last named I was, though a 
boy, permitted to launch, and she was commanded for a time 
by the late Peter W. Smith. The Swallow had been a fisher- 
man ever since 1803, but, nevertheless, continued in active 
busines until 1873, when she was lost. ^^Ir. Spooner died, 
IMarch 5, 1838. He was succeeded in the store by William 
Churchill, a native of Duxbury, and the son of Peleg Church- 
ill, whose daughter, Eliza, married Joseph Chandler, the father 
of the late Peleg Churchill Chandler of Plymouth, who was 



32 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

named after his grandfather. Mr, Churchill built and occu- 
pied for several years the house on Middle street, now occu- 
pied by Charles H. Frink. While in Plymouth he carried on 
the mackerel fishery, employing as packers and coopers, his 
brother, Otis Churchill, and Winslow Cole. He removed in 
1838 to Boston, where on Long Wharf he continued the same 
business. 

The store of I. L. anrl T. Hedge, occupied the easterly half 
of the building which stood on the northerly corner of Hedge's 
wharf. With James Bartlett they were largely engaged in 
the whale fishery, having their counting room upstairs, and 
their store room below. Mr. Isaac L. Hedge moved in that 
year, 1832, into the house built by him, now owned and oc- 
cupied by Father Buckley, where he died, April 19, 1867; Mr. 
Thomas Hedge was living in the house now owned by his 
daughter, Mrs. Lothrop, which he had bought of Thomas 
Jackson in 1830, and where he died, July 11, 1865. 

John Thomas, who as a lawyer, occupied an office connect- 
ed with the Hay ward house on Main street, where the engine 
house now stands, was admitted to the firm in 1832, but in 
1837 he removed to New York, where he engaged success- 
fully in the wholesale iron business, and accumulated a hand- 
some property. When retiring from business he bought an 
estate at Irvington on the North river, and built a house 
which he occupied until his death. He was killed by lightning 
in the hay field in July, 1855. He was the father of the late 
Wm. A. Thomas of Kingston. 

Richard Holmes occupied a store standing immediately 
north of the present market of Anthony Atwood. He was a 
member of one of the oldest Plymouth families, and lived 
until 1835 in the house on Cole's Hill, now occupied by An- 
thony Atwood. In that year he bought a lot of land imme- 
diately north of the house of Mrs. Lothrop, extending from 
Court street to the shore, and built a house with fish houses 
and fish flakes in its rear, where he lived until his death. In 
1833, his son-in-law, Alonzo D. Scudder, became his partner 
in business, and, after his death, July 4, 1841, continued with 
his son, Richard W. Holmes. After the death of Mr. Scud- 
der, April 5, 1853, Isaac Brewster became the partner of 
Richard W. Holmes, after whose death, February 15, 1862, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN, 33 

the Store was occupied by John Churchill. Holmes & Scud- 
der and Holmes & Brewster were many years engaged in 
the Grand Bank fishery, and general navigation, and their 
skippers, among whom were Oliver C. Vaughn, Benjamin 
Jenkins and William Atwood, regardless of equinoctial storms 
remained on the Banks until they had wet their salt. They 
owned at various times the schooners Volant, Flash, Abeona, 
Medium, Seadrift, Swallow, Challenge, Flora, Anna Hincks 
and Palestine, all of which, except the last two, were engaged 
in the Grand Bank fishery. 

The next building at the head of Davis wharf contained for 
many years prior to 1826 the counting room of my grand- 
father, William Davis, who died, January 5, in that year. 
After a short occupation by William Spooner, it was in 1832 
occupied as a store by George Cooper. For several years be- 
fore that date, and many years after 1833, Mr. Cooper was em- 
ployed as a clerk, and as far as I know, was never concerned 
in navigation. His occupation of the store was short, and he 
was succeeded by Elisha Whiting and Bartlett Holmes, Jr., 
and William Davis Simmons and others, until it came into 
the possession of Jesse R. Atwood, whose son, Anthony At- 
wood, now occupies it for a fish market. Mr. Cooper died 
April 29, 1864. 

Elkanah Bartlett kept a store at the northerly corner of Car- 
ver's, now Craig's wharf, until his death. John Darling 
Churchill was connected as clerk, and in other ways with Mr. 
Bartlett, for many years, and succeeded him in business. Mr. 
Churchill, like Mr. Bartlett, was engaged in the Grand Bank 
fishery, and with Nathaniel E. Harlow, owned the schooners 
Conanchet, Engineer, Oronoco and Wampatuck. 

William Nye had a store a little back from the street be- 
tween Carver's wharf and Barnes' wharf, where he bought 
and sold old iron and junk. My associations with his store 
are among the pleasantest of my youth, for there by the sale 
of old iron, which I most assiduously picked up for two or 
three weeks before that holiday which was so delightful to 
all boys, the old election day, I found the wherewithal for the 
holiday feast, which was held in the barn or carriage house 
of some one of our families, and consisted of election cake 
and lobster and lemonade in the morning, followed by a 



34 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Stomach ache in the afternoon. The town baker always made 
lip a good batch of election cake or buns, for the occasion, and 
these articles formed as important a part in the diet of the 
day as succotash on Forefathers' day. Mr. Nye would gather 
for his business at election time, a bag of bright new cents, 
and would tempt the aesthetic taste of the boys by asking them 
if they would take one bright cent or two dull ones. No day, 
not even Thanksgiving day, has such a firm seat in my mem- 
ory as the old election day. It was the day of the meeting of 
the General Court, which until 1832, occurred on the third 
Wednesday in May. Mr. Nye lived in a house at the south- 
erly end of Water street, which stood on the site of the house 
built and occupied by the late Rufus Churchill, who married 
one of his daughters. Mr. Nye came to Plymouth from Sand- 
wich, and died February 25, 1849, ^^d after his death, his 
house was moved across the street, where it now stands. 

Alonzo D. Scudder, who came to Plymouth from Barnsta- 
ble, began business in Water street with Lemuel B. Churchill 
for the sale of grain and flour, but precisely where their store 
was I cannot say. The partnership continued only a short 
time, and in 1833 Mr. Scudder became a partner with his 
father-in-law, Richard Holmes. He died as already stated, 
April 5, 1853, and Mr. Churchill died December 30, 1833. 

At wood L. Drew, I think, occupied a store, in 1832, in the 
basement of his father's house, near the corner of Leyden 
street, and was quite extensively engaged at various times in 
the whale and Grand Bank fisheries, and in general naviga- 
tion. In 1839 he was associated as a partner with Leander 
Lovell, and built the store now standing at the northerly 
corner of Barnes' wharf. In later life he was associated in 
some capacity with his brother, William Rider Drew, an en- 
terprising and prosperous manufacturer, who is still living, 
and whose extensive establishment for the manufacture of 
tacks and rivets is situated on Smelt Brook at Rocky Nook. 
Mr. Drew died November 25, 1877. 

The store kept by Levi Barnes as early as 1830 was one of 
two in the building which stood on the southerly corner of 
the way leading to Middle street. In the latter part of his 
life he occupied the store which had been occupied by Phineas 
Wells. He died May 14, 1853, in the house on North street 
which he had owned and occupied since 1835. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 35 

Chas. Bramhall, who occupied the northerly store in the 
building above mentioned, was the son of Benjamin Bram- 
hall, and one of a family of enterprising sons, five of whom 
I knew. His brother William was a prosperous merchant in 
Boston, and for many years President of the Shawmut Bank, 
a position now occupied by our summer townsman, Jas. P. 
Steams, his son-in-law. Mr. Bramhall was actively engaged 
in the Grand Bank fishery, and died May 29, 1859, in the 
house where he had lived many years, recently occupied by B. 
O. Strong. 

Henry Tillson was a son of Hamblin Tillson, and kept a 
shoe store on Water street, as early as 1828, and in 1832 re- 
moved to Market street, and died December 27, 1834. 

Leander Lovell's store on Water street I cannot locate, but 
he was there as early as 1827, and on the tenth of November 
in that year his store was entered by burglars. In 1839 he was 
associated in business with Atwood L. Drew, and in the later 
years of his life was a partner with J. H. Harlow in the dry 
goods business in the store on Main street, now occupied by 
H. H. Cole. He was Town Clerk from 1852 to 1878, and as 
chairman of the Board of Selectmen and ^Moderator for many 
years, I am glad to put on record my appreciation of his 
courtesy and fidelity in the performance of his municipal du- 
ties. He came to Plymouth from Barnstable and married a 
daughter of Capt. James Bartlett, and died October i, 1879. 

Phineas Wells came to Plymouth from Maine, and married 
in 1828 ^lercy, daughter of George Ellis. He opened in 1827 
a grocery store which occupied the whole front of the build- 
ing opposite the head of Hedge's wharf. He was a master of 
his business, prudent, methodical and industrious, and so far 
as salesroom and storeroom were concerned, his store has never 
been surpassed in Plymouth. In or about 1850 he moved 
across the street and fitted up a store on the northerly corner 
of Hedge's wharf, where he remained until 1859, when he 
again moved to the store at the junction of Water and Leyden 
streets, where he remained until his cleath, December 8. 1869. 

Josiah Robbins occupied a store at the head of Robbins' 
wharf. In looking over the files of the Old Colony Memor- 
L\L to verify my recollection of Water street, I find that he 
was there as early as 1827, and in that year advertised the sale 



36 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

of old currant wine. The temperance movement began in the 
above year, and T think in the sale of wines the lines must have 
been drawn at the product of currants, as the following offi- 
cers of the Temperance Society organized in 1827 were 
chosen : Nathaniel Russell, President ; Zabdiel Sampson, Vice- 
President; Wm. Thomas, Secretary; and Ichabod Morton, 
Nathan Hayward, Jacob Covington, Josiah Robbins, Thomas 
Atwood, John Russell, Thomas Russell and Isaac L. Hedge, 
Executive Committee. It is probable that up to that time 
every grocery store contained ardent spirits in its stock, and 
on the 8th of September, 1827, I. & E. Morton, whose senior 
partner was one of the above executive committee, advertised 
concerning their store at Wellingsley that "that prolific 
mother of miseries, that giant foe to human happiness, shall 
no longer have a dwelling place under our roof." The 
movement was followed up by temperance lectures delivered 
in the church at Training Green by Mr. Daniel Frost, and 
total abstinence pledges were signed by nearly one quarter 
of the entire population of the town. Though the grocers as 
a body abandoned the sale of spirits, obedience to popular 
sentiment was by no means universal. Family use and indi- 
vidual consumption were largely diminished, and with the 
erection in 1835 of the frame of the double house on the corner 
of Rowland street, the practice of using liquor at "raisings" 
ceased. In the ship yards, however, for some years after that 
date, work was regularly knocked off every day at eleven and 
four o'clock for the distribution among the men of New Eng- 
land rum. Public opinion, however, without its re-inforce- 
ment by law, finally prevailed, and I should say that from 
1835 to 1840 it would have been impossible to buy either 
ardent spirits or wines, except at the hotels, and that there 
were less than a dozen houses in which they could be found. 
I am inclined to think that even under the operation of strin- 
gent laws there has been a reaction, and that they are now 
more generally, though not excessively used than they were 
sixty-five years ago. It cannot, however, be denied, that if 
total abstinence less widely prevails, intemperance is less com- 
mon, and more severely condemned. May it not be true that 
public opinion is more potent than law ? 

I have said that in 1832 there were three counting houses 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 37 

on Water street, meaning such as were engaged in the busi- 
ness of foreign navigation. These were D. & A. Jackson, 
Nelson & Harlow, and Nathaniel Carver. The oldest and 
most important was that of D. & A. Jackson, which derived 
both its business and character from the old firm of Daniel 
and Charles Jackson, father and uncle of the members of the 
house. It did not immediately follow in chronological order 
the old house of Daniel and Charles Jackson, as for a time 
after the death of Charles Jackson in 1818 Daniel, the sur- 
viving partner, formed a partnership with his son Jacob, un- 
der the firm name of Daniel Jackson and son, which was dis- 
solved in 1828. In this last year the firm of D. & A. Jack- 
son had its origin. Though as far as the public knew only 
Daniel and Abraham were members of the firm, that at a later 
date their younger brother, Isaac Carver Jackson, became as- 
sociated with them, there can be no doubt. It is within my 
recollection that the ship Iconium, the last ship built by the 
firm, was built in 1848 or thereabouts on the Sheepscott river, 
under Mr. Isaac C. Jackson's exclusive supervision. 

The Jackson brothers were a remarkable set of men, six in 
number, all about six feet in height, gentlemen in bearing and 
dress, and with their blue coats and brass buttons, and in 
summer, white beaver hats, white trousers, low shoes and white 
stockings, their appearance in our streets gave character and 
expression to the town. They were all confident, self-centered 
men, who knew what they wanted and how to accomplish it, 
meddling in no man's business and permitting no man to med- 
dle in theirs ; neither asking for nor offering advice. They had 
means sufficient to carry out their enterprises and never sought 
outside of their family and their commanders, the contribution 
of a timber head to their ships. 

The first vessels built by D. & A. Jackson were the Echo 
and Arno fishing vessels, which were sold. The i\mo was 
probably the vessel of that name, which was many years one 
of the Plymouth fishing fleet. They next built a topsail 
schooner named the Janus, which made one voyage under com- 
mand of Capt. Daniel Jackson to Russia, and was sold. In 
1829 they built the brig Janus, commanded by Capt. William 
Holmes, who died in Valparaiso, May 10, 1831, while in com- 
mand. They next built the brig Rhine of which Capt. Fred- 



38 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

erick Robbins was master a number of years, and which was 
finally lost on Fire Island. The brigs Maze and Autumn 
followed, engaged in general freighting business, and the brig 
Ganges commanded by Capt. Phineas Leach, and also the 
brig Cyclops. All of these vessels, including others up to per- 
haps 1835, were built in what was afterwards known as Bat- 
tles' lumber yard. The brig Eurotas, one of the Jackson fleet, 
was bought in Duxbury and placed in command of Capt. 
Eleazer Stevens Turner, which he commanded until he took 
command of the ship Thracian, when he was succeeded in 
the Eurotas by Capt. Ira Potter. 

How well I remember those bright waisted brigs, graceful 
and weatherly, and especially the Cyclops with her figurehead 
representing the mythological giant with a single eye in the 
middle of his forehead. 

This head was doubtless the work of Samuel W. Gleason, 
who came to Plymouth from Middleboro and exhibited much 
talent as a wood carver. Two of his sons continued in busi- 
ness in Plymouth as long as ship building was active in 
Plymouth and Duxbury and Kingston, when they removed to 
Boston, and achieved some very commendable work on the 
clipper ships of the California and Australian period. 

The Jackson firm were not long content with the building 
of brigs. While such vessels were well enough adapted to the 
iron trade, they were unsuited to the carrying of sugar from 
the West Indies to the North of Europe, and still more un- 
suited to the transportation of cotton. It was not an uncom- 
mon thing for vessels in the sugar trade bound from Havana 
to Cronstadt, to put into Plymouth to take out a clean bill of 
health. I remember well the ship Harvest, Capt. Lawton with 
George Warren supercargo, belonging to Barnabas Hedge, 
anchoring in Saquish cove, and proceeding with a new bill of 
health. The complete abandonment of the brig was effected 
when, at a later period, coal transportation became extensive 
on the Delaware and other rivers. The last full rigged brig 
in Plymouth was the old brig Hannah, which was owned by 
Barnabas Hedge, and commanded many years by Capt. Isaac 
Bartlett in the West India trade. Her last service was on a 
fishing trip to the straits, commanded by Capt. Ignatius Pierce, 
the father of the late Capts. Ignatius and Ebenezer Pierce. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 39 

The last American brig ever seen by me was in Salem harbor 
about thirty years ago, engaged in the African trade. 

The ships Thracian and Persian were built in a yard about 
where the foot of Brewster street now is, by James Collins, 
master carpenter, who had already built the ships Brenda and 
Dromo for Arthur French of Boston, a brother-in-law of 
Abraham Jackson. The Jackson fleet of ships was completed 
by the purchase in Maine of the Tyrian and the building of 
the Iconium. Of each of these ships I have something to say. 
Many a trenail turned out by me in a trenail machine on a 
Saturday afternoon was put into the bottoms of the Thracian 
and Persian, and many a cracker and slice of cheese have I 
eaten in the ship house at their launchings. Capt. Frederick 
Robbins was transferred from the brig Rhine to the Persian, 
Capt. Eleazer Stevens Turner from the brig Eurotas to the 
Thracian, and Capt. Daniel Lothrop Jackson, son of the senior 
partner of the house, was given the command of the Tyrian. 

Capt. Turner was eventually transferred to the Iconium, 
on which ship he was finally succeeded by Capt. William 
Davie. These ships were first class ships in every particular, 
and for one or each of them the schooner Capitol was bought 
in Maine and placed in command of Capt. Richard Rogers, 
who was sent to Virginia with wood choppers, teams and pro- 
visions and a gang of carpenters under Benjamin Bagnall, to 
get out frames on a tract of timber land, which the Jacksons 
had bought or leased for the purpose. 

In December, 1846, I was in Marseilles waiting for a steam- 
er to take me to Genoa and Naples. Having been in Paris 
away from the sea six months or more, I have never before 
or since experienced the pleasure which a sight of the Medi- 
terranean gave me. My first excursion from the hotel, after 
my arrival, was as it would have been at home — down among 
the shipping. The new harbor had not then been opened, and 
the ships were made fast with their sterns to the mole. Seeing 
an American flag at one mast head, I soon read on the stern of 
the ship, "Persian of Plymouth." Inquiring of the ship keeper 
if Capt. Robbins, whom I knew was the captain, was on board, 
and learning that he was not, I walked along the mole, looking 
into the various stores, and soon saw him astride a chair, club 
house fashion, with his arms folded on the back, looking at 



40 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

me as I entered. During the three days I was obliged to wait 
for my steamer, I spent a half hour each day with him on 
board his ship. He was soon to sail for New Orleans, and 
as I afterwards learned he died while on the passage, or soon 
after his arrival. He was succeeded by Capt. Thomas Ap- 
pling, who had commanded the Cyclops, who died at sea of 
yellow fever, and was succeeded by Capt. Lewis Robbins. 
After leaving Capt. Robbins I walked farther down the mole 
and read on the stern of a bark flying the stars and stripes, 
the familiar name, "Griffin of Boston." I knew Capt. Charles 
Blake, her owner and commander, who lived directly opposite 
my grandmother's house in Winthrop place His vessel was 
half yacht, half trader, and sometimes with guests, and some- 
times without. He was a skimmer of the seas, taking com- 
fort and pleasure, for which his freight list might pay in 
whole or in part. While I was at Naples he came over and 
anchored his bark directly in front of the hotel where I was 
stopping. 

But my story of Yankee vessels is not all told. On my way 
down the coast of the Mediterranean a fellow passenger on 
the steamer, an Englishman named James Buchanan, was 
constantly boasting of the superiority of English vessels over 
all others. Of course I defended my own, nor was it difficult, 
in those days at least, to find fault with the squat sails, short 
top gallant masts, clumsy blocks, poorly set up spars, and if at 
anchor with sails furled, the untidy bunts which often looked 
hke bundles of rags on the yards of the Englishmen. As we 
came to an anchor one morning in the harbor of Genoa, I 
pointed out to ]\Ir. Buchanan a very trig looking bark, anchor- 
ed near by, which had a familiar look. "She's a tidy craft," 
said he, " and she'll be English, of course." I knew better, 
and calling a boatman, directed him to row to the vessel. As 
we rowed round her stern I was not very much surprised to 
read, "Truman of Kingston," in hospitable letters. I had 
often seen the Truman, Capt. Doane, as well as her sister ship, 
the Cecilian, Capt. Dawes, belonging to Joseph Holmes, and 
I spent a pleasant hour with the captain in his cabin before 
going ashore for a day's stroll before leaving for Naples in 
the evening. It was singular that the only three American 
vessels visited by me in nearly a year's absence from home, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 4I 

should have hailed from Plymouth, Kingston and Boston, and 
that all should have been commanded by men v^hom I knew. 
Another American vessel not actually visited bv me during 
my trip to Europe in 1846, but seen under interesting circum- 
stances, emphasized the environment enveloping me associated 
with home. On the second of May in the above year, Capt. 
John Eldridge of Yarmouth, Mass., master of the New York 
and Liverpool packet ship Liverpool, on which I was a pas- 
senger, sighted a dismasted vessel. She lay ahead of us di- 
rectly on our course, and in answer to our hail as we rounded 
her stern, we found her to be the bark Espindola of and for 
New York from Liverpool, with four hundred steerage pas- 
sengers, and commanded by Capt. Barstow of Hano\er, Mass., 
fourteen miles distant from my house. Capt. Barstow re- 
ported that while he was in his cabin at eight o'clock on the 
morning before, the ship under full sail with a light northerly 
wind, without warning, was struck by a whirlwind, and com- 
pletely dismasted. She wanted spars and provisions. The 
subsequent scenes were full of interest. 

Lufifing up into the wind and running close hauled about 
three miles, while spare spars were got out and lashed out- 
side, and provisions were got in readiness, we ran back and 
layed to to the windward of the wreck. With a picked crew, 
under the command of the mate, the life boat was sent off in 
a rough sea, the mate holding in his hand a coil of lanyard at- 
tached to a Manila line that would float, fastened to the spars. 
When all was ready the lashings of the spars were cut, and 
when the boat was near enough the coil was thrown on board 
the wreck, and the spars pulled alongside. The mate backing 
up to the bark jumped into the chains, when she rolled to 
windward, and soon had the supply of meats and other pro- 
visions put on board. Capt. Barstow learning that a Plym- 
outh man was on board the Liverpool, sent his compliments to 
me, and after about three hours' detention, we were again on 
our course. I afterwards saw that the Espindola obtained 
more spars from the packet ships, Ashburton and Hollinguer. 
and reached New York after a passage of forty days. 

The Tyrian, commanded by Capt. Daniel Lothrop Jackson, 
met an untimely fate. During the Irish famine she loaded 
with com for Glasgow, and after her departure from New 



42 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

York no tidings of her were ever received. Of the Iconium 
I have a story to tell, as I received it from Capt. Turner's 
own lips on his way from Boston to Plymouth, the day after 
his marvelous escape from shipwreck in Boston Bay. It must 
have been in the month of March in the early 1850s that he 
came round the Cape with a load of cotton for Boston, and 
with a strong northeast wind, without rain or snow, he expect- 
ed to find his way without trouble into lighthouse channel. 
But as the day wore on the wind increased to a gale, while 
the weather became so thick that to haul off shore, if possible, 
was the only safe course to pursue. With a light cotton ship, 
the sagging to leeward made it necessary, as night approached, 
to come to an anchor. With both anchors down and a 
long scope of cable, Capt. Turner hoped to ride out the 
gale. As near as he could judge he lay a mile and 
a half northeast and by north of the outer Minot's Rocks. 
The wind veered a little to the southeast, but as it veered it 
increased in intensity until about midnight one chain parted. 
He then cut away his spars, hoping that with an eased ship 
the other cable would stand by. But at daybreak the gale still 
increasing, the last cable parted, and the ship drifted, stern 
foremost, toward Strawberry Hill. The wind had veered at 
this time still more to the south, so that if the bow could be 
twisted to the northward and westward, and steerage way be 
got on the ship, it might be still possible to enter the harbor. 
Capt. Turner managed to set a piece of canvas on the fore- 
mast stump, but it did no good, and the ship continued to 
drift stern foremost. At this time the air had cleared, but the 
gale had not abated, and as a last resort he carried his kedge 
anchor aft, and dropped it over. the stern, thinking it barely 
possible that it might catch long enough to turn the ship on her 
heel and give her steerage way. It worked as he hoped, and 
with the wind still veering, and hundreds on the shore await- 
ing a final disaster, he crawled along between Hardings and 
the breakers and rounded Point Allerton without a fathom to 
spare. A station pilot boat lying at anchor in the roads put 
a pilot on board, and Capt. Turner, as he told me, went into 
his cabin and crying like a child, thanked God for his deliver- 
ance. Not long after this he retired temporarily from the sea 
to recruit his enfeebled health, and was succeeded in the 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 43 

Iconium by Capt. William Davie, but in 1861 was commission- 
ed Sailing- Master in the Navy, and while in command of the 
storeship Relief, bound to the East Indies, he died at Rio 
Janeiro, August 5, 1864. In just appreciation of his seaman- 
ship and skill, the Boston Underwriters made him a present 
of five hundred dollars. 

Daniel Jackson, the senior member of the Jackson house, 
died July i, 1852, Abraham Jackson died February 6, 1859, 
and Isaac Carver Jackson May 23, 1875. 



44 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER V. 



Finding it difficult to define the ownership of vessels en- 
gaged in commerce, with which other counting houses on Wa- 
ter street were at various times within my memory associated, 
I shall subjoin a list as accurate as I have been able to make it, 
of all vessels except those engaged in the cod fishery hailing 
from Plymouth since about the year 1828. Those vessels in 
the list engaged in whaling will be referred to more particu- 
larly in a narrative of the whaling industry, while it was car- 
ried on in Plymouth. Those vessels engaged in the cod fish- 
ery, which only occasionally engaged in commercial pursuits, 
are not included in the list, but will be spoken of in a separate 
chapter. Packets and coasters and smacks are included in the 
list, but the packets will be further considered under their own 
head. 





SHIPS. 


Arbella 


Massasott 


Granada 


Mayflower 


Hampden 


Persian 


Harvest 


Sydney 


Iconium 


Thracian 


Isaac AUerton 


Tyrian 


Levant 






BARKS. 


Abagun 


Laura 


Brontes 


Liberia 


Charles Bartlett 


Mary and Martha 


Qiilton 


Osprey 


Condor 


Plymouth 


Crusoe 


Triton 


Edward Cohen 


Victor 


Fortune 


Volant 




BRIGS. 


Attila 


Cybelle 


Aurora 


Cyclops 


Autumn 


Daniel Webster 


Chase 


Eurotas 


Cobden 


Ganges 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



45 



Garnet 


Old Colony 


Hannah 


Plymouth 


Isabella 


Plymouth Rock 


James Monroe 


Reindeer 


Janus 


Rhine 


Jennie Cushman 


Rollins 


John Fehrman 


Santiago 


Junius 


Sarah Abigail 


Levant 


Waverly 


Lucy 


William 


Maria 


William Davis 


Massasoit 


Violet 


Maze 


Yeoman 


]\Iiles Standish 


Young America 


Minerva 


Washington 


Oceanus 






SCHOONERS. 


Anna D. Price 


M. R. Shepard 


Atalanta 


Maracaibo 


Capitol 


Mary 


Eliza Jane 


Mary Allerton 


Emma T. Story- 


Mary Eliza 


Emma Winsor 


Mary Holbrook 


Exchange 


Martha May 


Fearless 


Mercury 


Glide 


New York 


Grace Russell 


Rainbow 


Independence 


Sarah Burton 


Janus 


Sarah E. Hyde 


J. H. Racey 


Sarah Elizabeth 


John Eliot 


Shave 


J. R. Atwood 


Speedwell 


John Randolph 


Vesper 


Leader 


Wm. G. Eadie 


Louisa Sears 


Wm. Wilson 




PINKIES. 


Charles Augusta 


Industry 


George 


Independence 




SLOOPS. 


Actress 


Emerald 


Argo 


Falcon 


Belus 


Harriet 


Betsey 


Hector 


Comet 


J. W. Crawford 


Coral 


Pennsylvania 


Eagle 


Planet 



46 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Polly Splendid 

Russell Susan 

Sally Curtis Thetis 

Spartan Wave 

The four following ships, Granada, Hampden, Massasoit and 
Sydney in the above list were managed by Capt. John Russell, 
who bought or built them with the aid of contributions from 
Sydney Bartlett, William Perkins, William Thomas, Thomas 
Davis of Boston, and Thomas Russell of Plymouth. I think 
the Massasoit was the only one of the four built in Plymouth, 
and she was lost on Point Allerton on her return from a Cal- 
cutta voyage in February, 1843. A Mr. Holbrook of Dor- 
chester, either passenger or supercargo, was lost. The negro 
cook calling himself Professor Steamburg, some years after- 
wards opened a barber's shop in the Danforth building at the 
corner of North street, having been attracted here by the name 
of the town to which the ship belonged on which he was 
wrecked. 

Exclusive of the packets and smacks, some of which were 
also built in Plymouth, a large majority of the vessels in the 
above list were launched in Plymouth yards. There were 
building yards in Plymouth as early as the beginning of the 
eighteenth century, one of which was at the foot of Middle 
street, and another on the site of the electric plant at the foot 
of Leyden street. The last must have been a well known and 
much used yard, and was situated on the northerly shore of 
the Mill pond, which was then an arm or cove of the harbor, 
with a broad entrance which was later traversed by the cause- 
way and bridge existing today. At the beginning of the Rev- 
olution John Peck, a naval constructor, was sentio Plymouth 
to design and build two vessels of war, which were named 
Belisarius and Mercury, the latter being put in the command 
of the noted Capt. Simeon Sampson. It is probable that in 
early days, when only vessels of light draft of water were re- 
quired, building yards were located on shores in close proxim- 
ity to the woods, from which with short hauls building ma- 
terials could be obtained. Thus the ship building industries 
of the south shore of Massachusetts Bay were established and 
continued active until the exigencies of commerce demanded 
larger vessels, and the construction of railroads and the trans- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 4/ 

port by water rendered it easy to supply with timber the yards 
of East Boston and Medford and Newburyport. I have no 
conchisive record to guide me, but I am incHned to think that 
up to the time of the civil war as many vessels were built in 
Plymouth and Kingston and Duxbury, and on the North River 
as in all the remainder of New England. 

Some indication of the extent of the building of vessels in 
Duxbury may be seen in the following record of the industry 
in that town from 1826 to 183 1, inclusive. In 1826 thirteen 
square rigged vessels, and three schooners were built; in 1827, 
seven square rigged and one schooner; in 1828, two ships, three 
brigs and live schooners ; in 1829, two ships, six brigs and two 
schooners ; in 1830, one ship, two- brigs and eight schooners, 
and in 183 1, four ships, three brigs and eight schooners. 

In 1834 Ezra Weston of Duxbury, or King Csesar, as he was 
called, who was reckoned the largest ship owner in the United 
States next to Wm. Gray of Salem, built the ship Hope of 800 
tons, which I remember seeing anchored in the Cow Yard wait- 
ing to be towed to Boston to be rigged. She was the largest 
merchantman ever seen in Boston. In my vacation visits to 
my grandmother in Boston, where I was in the habit of ram- 
bling about the wharves, I remember the largest ships of that 
time, the Asia, the St. Petersburg and the Akbar, owned by 
Daniel C. Bacon and others, and none were larger than 400 
tons. After the death of ]\Ir. Weston, which occurred Au- 
gust 1=^, 1842, ship building in Duxbury practically ceased. 

So far as the North River is concerned the building of ves- 
sels was begun as early as 1678, and the first one there built 
was launched on the Hanover side of the river, a little above 
the present bridge on the Plymouth and Boston road. Up to 
1889. according to the record of Dr. L. V. Briggs, ten hundred 
and twenty-five vessels had been built, many of which before 
the Revolution were owned in England. The largest vessel 
was a ship of six hundred and fifty tons, and the classes num- 
bered one hundred and one sloops, four hundred and eight 
schooners, sixtv-six brigantines, one hundred and thirty-three 
brigs, fifty-three barks and two hundred aiid eight ships. The, 
North River industry gradually declined as the demand for 
larger vessels than could float in the waters of the river, in- 
creased. The records of the ship building industry of the 



48 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Merrimac river, and those of Meclford and East Boston, show 
where the industry went. The industry on the Merrimac 
river began at a very early period, it having- the advantage of 
floating its timber from the northern woods directly to the ship 
yards. Before the Revolution, what were called Jew's Rafts, 
were built on the Merrimac for a London Jew named Levi, 
bolted and fastened with the equipment of a ship, and sent 
across the ocean. In an English newspaper of 1770 it was 
announced "that the Newbury," Capt. Rose, had arrived in the 
Thames, a raft of timber in the form of a ship, in twenty-six 
days from Newbury, New England. 

No record of vessels built before the Revolution exists, but 
after the Revolution, up to 1883, about five hundred vessels 
were built on the Merrimac, and registered in the Custom 
House at Newburyport. The career of John Currier, Jr., of 
that city, was a remarkable one. Between 1831 and 1883, he 
built ninety-two ships, four barks and one schooner, of which 
the largest measured nineteen hundred and forty-five tons, 
and the average tonnage of the whole number was nine hun- 
dred and fifty-six. 

Unfortunately there is no available record of the East Bos- 
ton and Medford ships, but though the career of Donald Mc- 
Kay was shorter than that of Mr. Currier, it was more remark- 
able. Knowing something of Mr. McKay's origin and early 
life, I may be pardoned for making a special reference to him. 
He belonged to a family living in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, my 
mother's native town, and was engaged there in his trade as 
ship carpenter. My uncle, Cornelius White, a merchant, and 
the American Consul in that town, knowing his ability, advised 
him to go to Boston, and provided him with letters to such per- 
sons as he thought would advance his interests. Through 
these letters to my uncle, Isaac P. Davis, and William Sturgis, 
he at once secured work in the Charlestown Navy Yard. An 
entering wedge was enough for a man of genius like him, and 
the clipper ships which came one after another from his hands, 
soon placed him at the head of his profession in the country. 
A few years ago I had an interview in New York with his 
youngest brother, Nathaniel White McKay, named after an- 
other of my uncles, with regard to a steamboat for the Bos- 
ton and Plymouth line, and I thfnk the steamer Shrewsbury, 
which ran one season, was chartered throvtgh him. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 49 

The greatest triumph of Mr. McKay was the ship Great Re- 
pubHc, built at East Boston, three hundred and twenty-five 
feet long, fifty-three feet wide, and thirty-seven feet deep, 
with a capacity of four thousand tons. She had four masts, 
the after one called the spanker mast of a single spar fore and 
aft rigged. Her main yard was one hundred and twenty feet 
long, and her suit of sails contained 15,653 yards of canvas. 
She was partially burned at her dock in New York, and razeed 
to three decks and three masts. 

In 1803 the foreign trade of Plymouth was at the height of 
its prosperity. In that year it was carried on by seventeen 
ships, sixteen brigs and forty schooners, and the duties paid 
into the Plymouth Custom House amounted to nearly one 
hundred thousand dollars. The above list of vessels shows 
how much the trade was reduced during the first quarter of 
the last century. This was due to the embargo act passed 
Dec. 22, 1807, on the recommendation of President Jefferson, 
and later to the war of 1812. The embargo act prohibited the 
departure from Ignited States ports of all but foreign armed 
vessels with public commissions, or foreign merchant ships in 
ballast, or with such cargo only as they might have on board 
when notified of the law. All American vessels engaged in 
the coasting trade were obliged to give bonds to land their 
cargo in the United States. This embargo was repealed by a 
law taking effect March 15. 1809. except so far as it related 
to France and Great Britain, and their dependencies, and in 
regard to them also after the next session of Congress. Of 
course such a law struck a severe blow at the trade on which 
Plymouth most depended for the support of its people, and at 
a town meeting held in August, 1808, a petition to the Presi- 
dent for a suspension of the embargo, was adopted in which 
it was stated that "prohibitory laws that subject the citizens to 
grevious privations and sufferings, the policy of which is at 
least questionaSle, and the temptations to the violations of 
which from the nature of man are almost irresistible, will 
gradually undermine the morals of society, and introduce a 
laxity of principle and contempt of the laws more to be de- 
plored than even the useless waste of property." 

The President replied that "he would with great willin?-- 
ness have executed the wish of the inhabitants of Plymouth 



50 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

had the BerHn and Milan decrees, and the British orders in 
Council, which endangered the safety of neutral ships been re- 
pealed, but while the edicts remain, Congress alone can sus- 
pend the embargo." 

During the fifteen months of the continuance of the em- 
bargo, many of the business men of Plymouth were seriously 
crippled, and to some who survived its effects, the war which 
followed it, brought absolute ruin. During the war the 

wharves were crowded with vessels with their topmasts 
housed, and canvas bags, which received the name of Madison 
night caps, covered the hounds of their rigging. It is not to 
be supposed that yankee shrewdness entirely failed to evade 
the watchfulness of government officers, whose duty it was to 
prevent departures from port. Some of the vessels were al- 
ready loaded with cargoes of fish for the West Indies when the 
war embargo began, and those which succeeded in the dark- 
ness of some stormy night in quietly setting up their rigging, 
and bending their sails, and getting to sea, found ready markets 
for their fish at from fifteen to twenty dollars per quintal. 

I will close this chapter with a list of the captains of all 
vessels excepting those engaged in the cod fishery, who have 
served within my recollection, 

Benjamin Nye Adams Truman Banlett 

George N. Adams Truman Bartlett, Jr. 

Thomas Appling Wm. Bartlett 

Anthony Atwood Wm. Bartlett 

Edward B. Atwood John Battles 

Thomas Atwood Edward W. Bradford 

Thomas Atwood Lemuel Bradford 

Otis Baker Samuel Briggs 

Wm. W. Baker Chandler Burgess 

Bradford Barnes John Burgess 

James Barnes Lewis Burgess 

Zacheus Barnes Wm. W. Burgess 

Amasa Bartlett Winslow Burgess 

Andrew Bartlett Horatio G. Cameron 

Cornelius Bartlett John Carlton 

Flavel Bartlett Nath'l Carver 

Frederick Bartlett W^m. Carver 

Isaac Bartlett Daniel D. Churchill 

James Bartlett Sylvanus ChurchiH 

Josiah Bartlett James M. Clark 

Thomas Bartlett Nath. Clark 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



51 



Wm. Clark 
Wm. Clark 
George Collingwood 
Joseph Cooper 
James Cornish 
Thomas E. Cornish 
Nathaniel Covington 
Robert Cowen 
Dexter H. Craig 
Ichabod Davie 
Solomon Davie 
Wm. Davie 
Francis B. Davis 
Samuel Doten 
Samuel H. Doten 
Simeon Dike 
John Faunce 
Elkanah Finney 
Henry Gibbs 
John Gooding 
Albert G. Goodwin 
Ezra S. Goodwin 
Nath'l Goodwin 
Ezra Harlow 
Wm. O. Harris 
Nathan Haskins 
Gideon Holbrook 
Albert Holmes 
John F. Holmes 
Kendall Holmes 
Michael Holmes 
Peter Holmes 
Samuel D. Holmes 
Truman C. Holmes 
Wm. Holmes 
Winslow Holmes 
James Howard 
Robert Hutchinson 
Daniel Jackson 
Daniel L. Jackson 
Robert King 
Thomas King 
Qark Johnson 
Wm. Langford 
Phineas Leach 
Augustus H. Lucas 
Wm. Morton 
Wm. Mullins 
Thomas Nicolson 
Wm. .Nightingale 
Grant C. Parsons 



John Parsons 
Ephraim Paty 
John Paty 
Gideon Perkins 
Ebenezer Pierce 
Ignatius Pierce 
Ignatius Pierce, Jr. 
Gideon V. Pool 
Richard Pope 
Calvin Ripley 
Luther Ripley 
Frederick Robbins 
Isaac M. Robbins 
Lewis Robbins 
Nathan B. Robbins 
Samuel Robbins 
Richard Rogers 
Samuel Rogers 
Wm. Rogers 
John Ross 
Wm. Ross 
John Russell 
Merrick Rider 
Marston Sampson 
Amasa C. Sears 
Benj. W. Sears 
Hiram B. Sears 
Thomas B. Sears 
George Simmons 
George Simmons, Jr. 
Wm. D. Simmons 
Nath'l Spooner 
Nath'l Spooner 
Wm. Swift 
John Sylvester 
Wm. Sylvester 
Gamaliel Thomas 
Thomas Torrey 
Thomas Tribble 
Eleazer S. Turner 
Lothrop Turner 
Wm. Wall 
Charles H. Weston 
Francis H. Weston 
Harvey Weston 
Gideon C. White 
Henry Whiting 
Henry Whiting, Jr. 
Winslow Whiting 
George Wood 
George Weston 



52 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER VI. 

To the remaining features of Water street about the year 
1830, it is not worth while to devote much space or time. The 
two blacksmith shops were conducted by Henry Jackson, with 
whom his son, Henry Foster Jackson, was associated, opposite 
the head of Davis's wharf, and by Southworth Shaw and his 
son Ichabod at the foot of Leyden street. A twelve-foot way 
from Leyden street, in direct continuation to Water street, 
separated the Shaw shop on the north from the building, which 
David Turner occupied as a pump and blockmaker's shop on 
the south. Thus the blacksmith building, the northerly part 
of which was converted into a grocery store, was surrounded by 
Water street, Leyden street and the way above mentioned. 
There is a photograph in Pilgrim Hall of the above buildings as 
they were before the changes were made which resulted in the 
present condition of that neighborhood. 

These blacksmith shops as I remember them were confined 
to vessel and general work, and did not include horse shoeing 
in their business. Joshua Standish came to Plymouth from 
Middleboro in 1828, and established a blacksmith shop opposite 
the jail on what is now South Russell street, and went into the 
shoeing business ; and there were shops of Lewis Perry near 
Bradford street, of Ezekiel Rider at Hobbs Hole, of Caleb Bat- 
tles at Bramhall's corner, and of Isaac and Henry Morton at 
Chiltonville. The shop now on Summer street, and one car- 
ried on by Newell Raymond and Job Churchill at the head of 
North wharf, were started at a later period 

Henry Jackson lived in the house at the corner of Middle 
street and Cole's Hill, and died there, September 29, 1835. 
His son, Henry Foster Jackson, who succeeded him in busi- 
ness, died in the same house, March 10, 1868. While I re- 
member the personality of the father, I recall nothing of his 
character, but the fact that he was fourteen years a member of 
the board of Selectmen shows him to have been a respected 
and trusted citizen. The son, never taking special interest in 
town matters, was closely observant of public affairs, and was 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 53 

reliable authority on all questions relating to the nautical his- 
tory of the town. 

Southworth Shaw lived in the house now standing at the 
southerly corner of Court and Vernon streets, which had been 
occupied by his ancestors since 1701, when the southerly part 
of the house was built, and it is now owned and partially oc- 
cupied by his granddaughter, Lucia Shaiw, having been in 
the family more than two hundred years. He had seven chil- 
dren, Southworth, late of Boston, Ichabod, Betsey, who mar- 
lied the late Wm. Bramhall of Boston, Maria, Samuel of 
Plymouth, and the late George Atwood and James R. of Bos- 
ton. He died January i8, 1847. His son, Ichabod, who con- 
tinued the business, died March 20, 1873. 

The two painters on Water street were Isaac and John Trib- 
ble. Isaac Tribble's shop was on his own premises a little 
north of the blacksmith's shop of Henry Jackson. He lived 
in the house to which his shop was attached, until 1834, when 
he bought the house recently standing next east of the house 
of John Russell on North street, where he died, Feb. 16, 1865. 
John Tribble's shop stood north of the shop now occupied by 
Winslow B. Standish, and he lived at the comer of High street 
and Ring Lane, where he died, June 2, 1862. 

The pump and blockmakers on Water street were John 
Sampson Paine and David Turner. Mr. Paine lived for some 
years in a building set back from Water street, and facing the 
way leading from that street to the Middle street steps, and his 
shop was in the brick basement of the house, and facing Water 
street. Many years before his death, which occurred Septem- 
ber 29, 1878, he bought and occupied the Samuel Robbins' es- 
tate on the north side of Middle street, including the hall, which 
for a long time was called Paine's hall. 

David Turner occupied a shop at the foo.t of Leyden street 
already described in connection with the Shaw blacksmith 
shop. Over his shop was a hall, long known as Turner's 
hall, which was somewhat historic in its career. In that hall 
a public female school was first established in Plymouth in 
1827, under the direction of the committee of the Central Dis- 
trict. In 1827, Miss Laura Dewey from Sheffield, Mass., who 
married in 1832 Andrew Leach Russell of Plymouth, opened 
a private school for girls there, and in 1829 Horace H. Rolfe 



54 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

opened a private school. In 1832 Wm. H. Simmons, son of 
Judge Wm. Simmons of Boston, opened a private school for 
girls, and one of David Turner's sisters, and Miss Louisa S. 
Jackson taught scTiool there for a time. For many years it 
was a favorite hall for singing schools kept by Webster Sey- 
mour and Wm. Atwood and others. I have always looked on 
that hall as sacred to the memory of a lost musical genius, for 
on my second day's attendance at Mr. Seymour's school I was 
dismissed because I could not raise the octave. When I have 
heard some of my fellow pupils sing, who succeeded where I 
failed, I have regretted that the dismissals were not more gen- 
eral. If I am not mistaken, in that hall the Know Nothings 
held their meeting's during their period of incubation before the 
demonstration of their strength in Town meeting in 1854. 
There also the Mayflower Lodge, I. O. O. F., was instituted 
Dec. 3, 1844. The hall was only about thirty-five feet long 
by about twenty wide, having an access to it by a flight of out- 
side steps on the westerly end with a closed porch at the top. 
So deficient was the town in halls before Pilgrim Hall was 
built in 1824, and before the hall in the hotel on the corner of 
Middle street, built in 1825 was available, that dancing parties 
were often held in this hall, and I have heard my mother say 
that she once attended an anniversary ball there, use being 
made of the shop beneath for a supper room, to which access 
was had by means of a trap door in the floor, and a stairway 
built for the occasion. Mr. Turner lived in a house a little 
west of his shop on Leyden street, and died May 14, 1869. 

The two sailmakers were Daniel Goddard, with a loft at 
the southerly corner of Hedge's wharf and Water street, and 
David Drew at a later period, with a loft in the Bramhall 
building south of the way leading to the Middle street steps. 
Mr. Goddard lived next to my mother's house on Cole's Hill, 
and I had occasion many times as a boy to thank him for his 
kindness. If I wanted a ball of twine for my kite he gave it 
to me, and if I picked out a pumpkin from the products of his 
farm for a jack lantern, he made me a present of it. He was 
farmer as well as sailmaker, and employed on his farm as well 
as in his loft, Alpheus Richmond, his brother-in-law, and his 
brother Nathan and John A. Richmond, the son of Alpheus. 
Associated with him in the loft was Lemuel Simmons, brother 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 55 

of his wife, who a few years after the death of Mr. Goddard, 
which occurred October 30, 1844, retired from business. !Mr. 
Goddard married Beulah Simmons, and I have the liveHest 
recollections of her house and neat kitchen and cool dairy, 
where I, or some other member of our family, had our milk 
pail filled with morning and evening milk. Those were not 
the days of milk carts, for a large portion of the families in 
town kept cows, and those who did not, sent daily to some 
neighbor who did. The building up of the town has so far 
reduced available pasturage near its centre that reliance for a 
supply of milk now rests entirely on the remote districts of 
Plymouth and on the adjoining towns. Not long ago I saw 
an old assessor's book for the year 1748, when with a popula- 
tion of about eighteen hundred, there were kept in town four 
hundred and thirty-eight cows, one for about every four of 
all the men, women and children. In the last year, 1904, with 
a population of about eleven thousand, there were three hun- 
dred and forty-seven cows, or one for every thirty-two inhabi- 
tants. 

In 183 1 there were three or four besides Air. Goddard, who 
kept small herds of cows, and among them was Lemuel 
Stephens, who near his residence at the foot of Fremont street, 
then known as Stephen's lane, had an abundance of pasturage. 
In the above year ]Mr. Stephens had a milk cart, supplying cus- 
tomers, and I remember his son Lemuel calling at our house 
on the morning of the 21st of November of .that year, and tell- 
ing us that the new Unitarian church had that morning been 
struck by lightning. The son, Lemuel, must have been either 
merely assisting the driver of the cart, or driving it tempor- 
arily during Thanksgiving vacation, as in that year he entered 
Harvard College at the age of seventeen, and graduated in 
1835. The mention of his name recalls an incident in his life 
as Professor in later years in Girard College. With many 
people the memory of Stephen Girard, the founder of the col- 
lege was held sacred, and one of the articles on exhibition was 
a suit of clothes which had been worn by him. Professor 
Stephens told me that during the absence from home one Sat- 
urday afternoon of himself and wife, he found on his return 
that quite a party had visited his house. "What did they 
want," asked the Professor of the servant. "Oh, sir, and for 



56 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

sure, they wanted to see Brother Stephens' old clothes." 
"Well Bridget, what did you do?" "Oh, and for certain, I 
showed them some old clothes of your own hanging on a line 
in the attic, and sir you ought to have seen what a time they 
had over them, stroking and kissing them, and almost crying 
over them." "Well, Bridget," said the Professor, "if they 
call again, you may tell them they may have the lot for five 
dollars." 

As I am getting somewhat garrulous and running away 
from the main thread of my narrative, I may be excused if I 
tell another story, which the mention of Girard College sug- 
gests. It is well known that Mr. Girard provided in his will 
that no clergyman should ever be admitted to the grounds and 
buildings of the college. Some years ago a convention was 
held in Philadelphia of the Masonic order, of which Dr. Wins- 
low Lewis of Boston, a distinguished physician and surgeon, 
was a member. One of the entertainments provided for the 
convention was a visit to Girard College. Dr. Lewis, whom I 
I remember well, always wore a high white clerical cravat, and 
as the procession marched into the grounds, an official at the 
gate said to him — "excuse me sir, but you cannot be ad- 
mitted." "The hell I can't" said the Doctor. "Walk in 
sir," said the official. It is an interesting commentary on the 
will of Mr. Girard that profanity could serve as a ticket of 
admission where the insignia of religion failed. 

Returning from this digression, as I have spoken of Mrs. 
Goddard, I cannot refrain from saying a word about her 
brother, Capt. George Simmons, the father of the late George 
Simmons. He sailed for my father and grandfather many 
years in command of the brig Pilgrim in foreign trade, and 
was one of their most efficient and trustworthy captains. My 
father was in Boston in 1824, fitting the brig for a voyage, 
when he was taken sick, and Captain Simmons brought him 
home in a chaise, to die two days later. He named his second 
son Wm. Davis Simmons, bom in 181 1, the master of the ill- 
fated packet Russell, after my grandfather, and a daughter, 
Joanna White, born in 1826, after my mother. It always 
gave me pleasure to meet and talk with him when in later years, 
enfeebled by lameness, he was employed as weigher of coal at 
the pockets on the wharves. He died, July 26, 1863, at the 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 57 

age of eighty-one years. I know no family with more marked 
physical traits than the family of which he and Mrs. Goddard 
and Lemuel Simmons were conspicuous members. I have 
noticed these traits in other families in Plymouth, not always 
the same, sometimes in figure, sometimes in walk, and again 
in voice, in mould of features, and in ways of doing things. 
They are such that neither time nor marriage can extinguish, 
and any close observer may have seen them in the Jackson, 
Kendall, Warren, Russell, Spooner and Simmons families, and 
in the Perkins family of Newfields street. 

Not many years ago I was in the Town Clerk's office, and 
seeing a man dismounting from a wagon in the Square, I 
said to the clerk, 'T never saw that man before but I feel sure 
that his name is Simmons, or he has Simmons blood in his 
veins." When I went out and addressed him as Mr. Simmons, 
I asked him if I was right in so calling him, and he said, "yes, 
that is my name." "Where do you live?" I asked him. "In 
West Duxbury," he replied. "Are you connected with the 
Plymouth Simmons family?" and he said he supposed he was 
distantly, but he was not acquainted with any of them. It 
has always been interesting to me to observe and study these 
family traits. 

David Drew, the other sail maker, learned his trade of Mr. 
Goddard; and began business about 1840. He lived many 
years on Pleasant street, opposite Training Green, and died 
within a year or two, more than ninety years of age. 

The old fashioned coopers who in the first half of the 19th 
century were numerous on Water street, have entirely disap- 
peared. Mr. John C. Barnes now buys shooks and puts to- 
gether twenty thousand barrels for cranberries annually. The 
coopers whom I recall were David and Heman Churchill, Otis 
Churchill, Winslow Cole, David Dickson, Ansel H. and Ab- 
ner H. Harlow, Perez Pool and Gideon Holbrook. 

Among the riggers who had their lofts on the wharves, may 
be mentioned, Lewis and Thomas Goodwin, John Chase, Mer- 
rick Ryder, Coleman Bartlett, Isaac J. Lucas and Peter W. 
Smith ; and among the caulkers and gravers, Wm. Pearsons, 
Abbet and Atwood Drew, Clement Bates and Eliab Wood. 

The master shipwrights, who ought to be mentioned were 
James Collins, Wm. R. Cox, Benjamin Bagnall, Richard W. 



58 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Bagnall, Wm. Drew and Joseph Holmes ; and among the ship 
carpenters were, GamaHel ColUns, Samviel Lanman, Ehas Cox, 
Richard and Samuel West Bagnall, Abijah Drew, David 
Thrasher and Isaac Lanman. 

The house carpenter mentioned on Water street was Ben- 
iamin Weston, who, associated with his brother Lewis, had a 
shop south of the bridge ODOosite the foundry. He lived for 
many years in the house inherited from his father, Lewis Wes- 
ton, on North street, immediately west of the house of the late 
Edward L. Barnes, and died July 25, 1858. 

Before closing this chapter it will be pertinent, in connection 
with those engaged in the equipment of vessels, to speak of the 
patent windlass invented by a native of Plymouth. Samuel 
Nicolson was the son of Thomas and Hannah (Otis) Nicolson, 
and was born in the liouse which formerly stood on the north 
side of Court square, Dec. 22, 1791. His father was a ship- 
master, and in the revolution commanded the privateer sloop 
America, owned by Wm. Watson and Ephraim Spooner and 
others, carrying six swivels and seventy men, with Corban 
Barnes first lieutenant, and Nathaniel Ripley, second lieuten- 
ant, commissioned September 6, 1776. Mr. Nicolson invented 
in 1830 what is known as the Nicolson windlass, and was the 
patentee of other inventions, among which was the Nicolson 
pavement. He had two sisters, Hannah Otis, who married 
William Spooner, and Caroline, the wife of Edw. Miller, and 
the mother of the wife of Chief Justice George T. Bigelow. 
He died in Boston, January 6, 1866, and is buried on Burial 
Hill. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 59 



CHAPTER VII. 



In speaking of the part Plymouth took in the whale fishery, 
it may be well to refer to the general history of that industry. 
In the vear, 1640, Thomas Macy came from Chilmark, Eng- 
land, and settled in Salisbury, Mass. In 1659 he embarked 
from Salisbury in an open boat with his family and Edward 
Starbuck, and landed at Nantucket, where they were the first 
white settlers. Not long after their arrival, additions were 
made to the settlement, and to the appearance of a whale in 
their harbor, which they succeeded in capturing, seems to be 
due the origin of that great industry, for which Nantucket was 
for many years distinguished. Whales were abundant in the 
waters of the island, and for some years they were taken by 
boats, wdiich brought the dead carcasses to the shore, where 
their blubber was peeled off and carried to the try pots of the 
fishermen. 

In order to facilitate their work, the fishermen erected masts 
on the land with crow's nests at their tops, in which in suitable 
weather, observers were stationed, and when a spout was seen 
the boats were launched. This method was pursued for thirty 
or forty years, when small sloops were employed, making 
shorter or longer cruises during the summer months, and 
bringing in the blubber to be tried out on the island. Grad- 
ually larger vessels were employed, furnished with try pots, 
which made cruises to Davis straits as early as 1746, to Baffin's 
Bay in 1751, to the African coast in 1763, to the Brazil ground 
in 1774, and round Cape Horn to the Pacific in 179 1. I have 
heard it said that Gamaliel Collins of Plymouth was one of 
the crew of the first American whaler to round the Horn. 

It is a little singular that until 1821 no persistent eft'ort was 
made in Plymouth to engage in the whale fishery. Whales 
were always at certain seasons abundant in the bay, but as far 
as I can learn only occasional attempts were made to take 
them. It is recorded that while the Mayflower was at anchor 
in Cape Harbor, "large whales of the best kind for oil and bone 
came daily alongside, and played about the ship." On the sec- 



6o PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

end of February, 1673, the town ordered that whatsoever 
whale, or part of a whale, or other great fish that will make 
oil, shall by the Providence of God be cast up, or come on 
shore, within the bounds of this township, that every such 
whale or part of a whale, or other such fish as will make oil ; 
two parts of three thereof are to belong and appertain to the 
town, viz : the proprietors aforesaid, and the other third part to 
such of the town as shall find and cut them up and try the oil." 

The following entry is made in the town records : "The 
marks of a whale left on record by Benjamin Drew of Plym- 
outh, Dec. 17, 1737; the said whale was struck by Joseph Sach- 
emus Indian at Manomet Ponds, the 25th of November, 1737, 
there were several irons put into her, one was a backward iron 
en her left side, and two irons on her right side pretty back- 
ward, and one lance on her right side, the iron on the left side 
was broke about six inches from the socket. She carried 
away one short warp with a drug to it, and a long warp with 
a drug without a buoy, one of the drug staves was made with 
a white birch, one of the irons was marked witfi an I on the 
head as the Indians think, with a blind S on the other side of 
the head, the rest of the irons we cannot give an account of 
the marks." 

Thus it will be seen that though whales made their appear- 
ance in Massachusetts Bay, and the means for taking them 
were possessed in Plymouth, yet no serious movement was 
made to engage in the business of their capture. In 1821 a 
company was formed to prosecute the fishery, consisting of 
James Bartlett, Jr., Isaac Barnes, Isaac L. and Thomas Hedge, 
Benjamin Barnes, Henry Jackson, Ichabod Shaw, Southworth 
Shaw, Atwood Drew, Thomas Jackson, Jr., Daniel Jackson, 
Jacob Jackson, Josiah Robbins, John Harlow, Jr., Samuel 
Doten, Nathaniel Ripley, Nathaniel Ripley, Jr., William P. 
Ripley, Richard Holmes, Jr., Benjamin Bramhall, Wm. Davis, 
Jr., and John B. Bates of Plymouth, John Wheeler and Luther 
Gay of Cambridge and Stephen Griggs of Boston. Though 
at a later period Isaac L. and Thomas Hedge were active in 
the management of one or more whalers, they were young 
men at the time of the formation of the company, the former 
twenty-three, and the latter, twenty-one, and James Bartlett, 
Jr., was the projector of the enterprise, and the leader in its 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 6l 

management. The company contracted with Nehemiah New- 
hall of Berkley to build tlie ship Mayflower of 345 59-95 tons, 
and she sailed for the Pacific in September of that year under 
the command of George Harris. The fitting of this ship with 
the hopes, which the advent of a new industry inspired, seem- 
ed to arouse the dormant energies of the town, which the war, 
so recently closed, had done much to paralyze. Coopers and 
bakers and dealers in general supplies, as well as mechanics, 
felt the quickening impulse, and the people of the town gener- 
ally were ready to contribute their capital in enlarging and ex- 
tending the new business. The Mayflower was absent nearly 
three years, and landed between two and three thousand bar- 
rels of oil. How much of her cargo was sperm oil, and how 
much whalebone she brought, I have no record to show. Be- 
fore her arrival an oil and candle factorv was established be- 
tween what is now Winslow street and the shore, about where 
the house stands recently occupied by George H. Jackson. 

The Mayflower made two more voyages to the Pacific of 
about three years each, under the command of Capt. Harris, 
landing about five thousand barrels, and in 1830 she was sold 
to Gideon Randall of New Bedford, an interest in her being re- 
tained in Plymouth by Jas. Bartlett, Jr., Abner S. Taylor and 
the heirs of Atwood Drew. While the Mayflower was on her 
first voyage, after the establishment of the oil and candle fac- 
tory, Mr. Bartlett, while in Nantucket on business, induced 
Mr, Wm. Collingwood, then living there, to come to Plymouth 
and superintend the refining of oil, and the manufacture of 
spermaciti candles. 

In 1822 another company was formed consisting of James 
Bartlett, Jr., Josiah Robbins, Isaac L. and Thomas Hedge, John 
B. Bates, Thomas Jackson, Jr., John Thomas, Henry Jackson, 
Jacob Covington, Daniel Jackson, Jacob Jackson, Allen Dan- 
forth, Isaac Sampson, John Harlow, Jr., Richard Holmes, Jr., 
Ichabod Shaw, Isaac Barnes, Lemuel Bradford, George Bacon, 
Rufus Robbins and Ephraim Harlow. They contracted with 
Richard Currier of Amesbury to build the bark Fortune of 
278 47-95 tons for the same service. She sailed for the Pacific 
in September, 1822, under the command of Peter C. Myrick, 
and returned in 1825 with two thousand barrels of oil. The 
names of the members of both this and the other company show 



62 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

the interest taken in the new industry by men of all occupa- 
tions and professions, merchants, lawyers, traders, blacksmiths, 
owners of cod fishermen, silversmiths and masons, and a de- 
termination to make it a success. Among them appears the 
name of Allen Danforth, who became in that year a perma- 
nent resident of Plymouth as the editor of the Old Colony 
Memorial. 

The Fortune made a second voyage of three years m 1825, 
and a third in 1829, under the command of Charles P. Swain, 
and a fourth in 1833, under the command of David Upham. In 
1837 she sailed under the command of Albert G. Goodwin of 
Plymouth, and in 1840 she made her last voyage from Plym- 
outh under the command of Wm. Almy. I remember the 
Fortune well on her return in 1832, from her third voyage, and 
her sailing on her fourth in 1833. Owing to shoal water at 
the wharves, she made her fitting as did the other ships and 
barks in the Cow Yard, and the whale boats as they came and 
went loaded with supplies were especially attractive to the 
boys. One of my schoolmates, Nathaniel Lothrop Hedge, 
went with her. Being called out by Mr. Stoddard, the teacher 
of the high school, to receive a flogging for some ofifense, 
which must have been trivial, for he was never guilty of any 
other, he quietly took his cap from the nail above his head, 
and walked out of school to ship the next day for a three years' 
voyage. Two other Plymouth men, I think, shipped in the 
Fortune, John Barrett, who became the captain of a ship 
from New Bedford, and his brother, William, who became one 
of the best boat steerers of his day. On her voyage begun in 
1837, George Collingwood of Plymouth was one of the crew, 
and Ozen Bates of Plymouth shipped on that or another voy- 
age of the same ship. The Fortune was sunk to aid in block- 
ing Charleston harbor in 1861. 

In 1830 James Bartlett, Jr., Isaac L. and Thomas Hedge 
and Jacob Covington bought the ship Arbella of 404 26-95 
tons, built in Bath, and in August of that year sent her to the 
Pacific under the command of George Harris, the first Captain 
of the Mayflower. She sailed again in 1834, and 1836 under the 
command of Ellis E. Eldridge, but what became of her after 
her return I have no means of knowing. I remember well the 
Arbella hove down near the end of the new Long wharf, with 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 63 

a raft under her bottom, being either caulked or sheathed or 
both. My impression is that most of the whalers made their 
voyag-es with either a bare or sheathed bottom. The process 
of heaving down was resorted to where docks were not avail- 
able, and was safe in shoal water. The process of heeling for 
the purpose of making repairs below the water line is some- 
times dangerous in deep water. The British man of war, 
George, heeled at Spithead in 1782, was caught by a slight 
squall with her ports open, and sunk with the loss of six hun- 
dred lives. 

In 183 1 Isaac L. and Thomas Hedge, Jacob Covington, John 
Thomas and James Bartlett, Jr., bought the ship Levant of 
332 34-95 tons, built at Newbury, and in July of that year, 
under the command of Thomas Russell of Nantucket, she 
sailed for the Pacific. She returned with 2,700 barrels of oil, 
and was sold February 14, 1835, for $15,600. This vessel 
was under the management of the Hedge firm. 

In 1833 Jacob Covington, James Bartlett, Jr., Josiah Rob- 
bins, Jacob H. Loud and John B. Thomas, bought the bark 
Triton of 314 49-95 tons, built in Durham, N. H., and in No- 
vember she sailed for the Pacific under the command of 
Mason Taber. She made two other voyages, one in 1835, un- 
der the command of Thomas Russell, and one in 1838 under 
the command of Chandler Burgess, Jr., of Plymouth. On her 
first voyage William Collingwood of Plymouth was one of 
the crew. 

In 1838 James Bartlett, Jr., Daniel Jackson, Abraham Jack- 
son, John B. Thomas, Jacob H. Loud, Nathaniel Russell, 
Nathaniel Russell, Jr., Allen Danforth, Thomas Russell and 
the heirs of Jacob Covington of Plymouth, and Thomas Rus- 
sell of Nantucket, bought the bark Mary and Martha of 316 
56-95 tons, built in Westbrook, Me., and in December she 
sailed for the Pacific on her only voyage from Plymouth, un- 
der the command of Thomas Russell. Wm. Collingwood of 
Plymouth was one of her crew. 

The brig Yeoman, afterwards changed to a bark, was built 
in Plymouth in 1833, by James Spooner, Southworth Shaw, 
Ichabod Shaw, Ichabod Shaw, Jr., Benjamin Bagnall, Nathan- 
iel C. Lanman, Wm. M. Jackson and Stephen Turner, and 
made several voyages to the South Atlantic, under the com- 



64 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

mand of John Gooding and James M. Clark, and on several 
of her voyages George Collingwood was one of her crew. 

The brig James Monroe, of 114 91-95 tons, built in Sand- 
wich, was owned by Isaac L. Hedge, George Churchill, Na- 
thaniel C. Lanman, Benjamin Hathaway, South worth Barnes, 
John B. Thomas, Ichabod Shaw, Comfort Bates, Joseph W. 
Hodgkins, Nathaniel Russell, Albert G. Goodwin, Isaac 
Barnes, Thomas Hedge and Nathaniel M. Davis, and was en- 
gaged in the Atlantic fishery, under the command of Simeon 
Dike of Plymouth, and probably made a second voyage. 

The schooner Exchange, of 99 91-95 tons, owned by Alonzo 
D. Scudder, Henry F. Jackson, James Collins, Wm. Nelson, 
and Rufus B. Bradford, was under the command of James 
King of Plymouth, and Rufus Hopkins of Provincetown. She 
made four voyages, in three of which George Collingwood was 
sailor, and in one, mate, and William Collingwood was a sea- 
man when she was wrecked in the West India waters. 

The schooner Maracaibo, 93 53-95 tons, built in Plymouth, 
and owned by Atwood L. Drew, Josiah Drew, Ephraim Har- 
low, James Doten, Ellis B. Bramhall, James Morton, Bartlett 
Ellis, Andrew L. Russell, Benjamin Barnes, 2d, David Tur- 
ner, Lemuel Simmons, John Harlow, 3d, Robert Hatch, Na- 
thaniel Holmes and David Holmes, engaged also in the At- 
lantic fishery, under the command of Capt. Pope and George 
Collingwood. She was lost September 19, 1846, off Bermuda. 

The only other vessels engaged in the whale fishery were 
the schooner Mercury, of 74 34-95 tons, built in Middleboro 
and owned by Isaac Barnes, Southworth Barnes, Ivory L. 
Harlow, and Charles Goodwin, and commanded by Capt. 
Nickerson, and the schooner Vesper, of 95 52-95 tons, built in 
Essex, and owned by Bradford Barnes, Jr., William Atwood, 
Samuel Robbins, Jr., Benjamin Barnes, Bradford Barnes, El- 
lis Barnes, Nathaniel C. Barnes, Nathaniel E. Harlow, Bart- 
lett Ellis, Joseph White, Robert Hatch, Heman Cobb, Jr., Cor- 
ban Barnes, Jeremiah Farris, Samuel N. Diman, David Tur- 
ner, Charles Goodwin, Southworth Barnes, Joab Thomas, Jr., 
Nathan H. Holmes, David Holmes, Ellis Drew, Ebenezer 
Ellis, Jr., and Edwin A. Perry. The Vesper afterwards en- 
tered the fishing and merchant service. 

James Bartlett, the projector of the enterprise, which seemed 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 65 

to promise new life, and an aroused activity in Plymouth, 
stood in the front rank among the business men of his native 
town. He was the son of Capt. James Bartktt, a successful 
shipmaster in days when it was necessary that a captain en- 
gaged in foreign trade should be something more than a navi- 
gator and seaman. He had, to be sure, his sailing orders from 
his owners, seemingly controlling his actions, but sailing or- 
ders, in the many which I have read, written by my grand- 
father, really left the fortunes of a voyage to the discretion of 
the master. Capt. Bartlett died December 22, 1840, at the 
age of 81. There were others whom I might mention, 
some still living in Plymouth, who also represented the best 
class of merchant captains. 

Mr. Bartlett, when quite a young man, was appointed su- 
percargo on board a ship belonging to Barnabas Hedge, en- 
gaged in foreign trade. Such a position, with the responsibili- 
ties it imposed, was the best popular training school for a 
commercial life, and consequently when he projected the 
whaling industry in 1821, he possessed all the qualifications 
for its successful management. He occupied for some years 
the easterly part of the Winslow House on North street, but 
in 1832 he bought the LeBaron estate on Leyden street, at the 
corner of LeBaron's Alley, and built the house now occupied 
by his grandson, Wm. W. Brewster, where he died July 29, 
1845, fifty-nine years of age. 

With regard to the packet service of Plymouth there 
were four packets within my lifetime, which are not 
within my memory, the Belus, Capt. Thomas 
Atwood ; the Falcon, Capt. Samuel Briggs ; the Sally Curtis, 
Capt. Samuel Robbins, and the Betsey, Capt. Isaac Robbins. 
There was a fifth, the Argo, Capt. Sylvanus Churchill, 
which I have a hazy recollection of seeing at her berth at the 
end of Davis' wharf. Of the eight succeeding packets I have 
very definite pictures in my mind. These, in the order of their 
probable ages, were the Polly, Eagle, Splendid, Hector, Har- 
riet, Atalanta, Thetis and Russell. The Polly was a black 
sloop, a dull sailer, unattractive in appearance, and poorly 
equipped for passengers. Her captain was Joseph Cooper, 
who lived in High street at the upper comer of Cooper's al- 
ley, leading to Town Square. At the northerly end of his 



66 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

garden on Church street, then known as Back street, there 
was a store house which, when he retired from the packet 
service in 1835, he altered into a grocery store, which he kept 
until his death, which occurred November 25, 185 1, in the 
83d year of his age. He was one of the last grocers in town 
to keep spirituous liquors for sale, and his stock in these was 
confined to Cicily Madeira wine. In 1835, or thereabouts, 
one of my mother's brothers, living m Nova Scotia, arrived 
unexpectedly one evening on the stage, and finding that she 
was out of wine to dispense the hospitalities of the occasion, 
she sent me with one of those square bottles made to fit parti- 
tions in the closet of the sideboard, up to Capt. Cooper's for 
two quarts of the above mentioned wine. I had nearly per- 
formed my errand in safety, when slipping on the icy side- 
walk I fell near the doorstep and broke the bottle. Enough 
wine, however, was saved for immediate purposes, but it was 
the last wine my mother ever bought. 

I remember that one afternoon in 1831, when two or three 
of the packets had been wind bound during a long spell of 
easterly weather, Capt. Cooper came down to the wharf in a 
hurried manner, evidently about to make a move. One of the 
other captains said : "What is the matter, old man, what are 
you going to do?" "I am going to cast off and hoist my jib," 
the Captain replied. "Parson Kendall's vane pints sou'west." 
"Hm," said the other Captain, "I'd stay here a month before 
I'd go to sea by Parson Kendall's rooster." This was before 
April, 1 83 1, because in that month the old meeting house was 
taken down, rooster and all. 

Sectarianism was active in those days, but Dr. Kendall was 
so little of a controversialist, and so much respected, that he 
occasionally exchanged pulpits with the evangelical ministers 
in Plymouth and adjoining towns. On one occasion he ex- 
changed with Rev. Benjamin Whittemore of Eel River, and 
after church a conversation between two parishioners was 
heard — something to this effect : "Well, Captain, how did 
you like the parson ?" The Captain replied, "I don't take much 
to this one God doctrine." "I guess," said the other, "one 
God is enough for Eel River, they only claim three in Boston." 

In this connection it may not be improper to refer to an 
incident creditable to all concerned, which may interest my 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 6/ 

readers. The editors of the Congrcgationalist, the leading 
New England Trinitarian Congregational journal, inserted in 
its issue of March 4, 1851, the following notice: 

"A premium of $30 is offered for a dissertation containing 
the most full and perfect and the best narrative of historical 
and other facts bearing upon the following question, viz: 'So 
far as Christian salvation is a change effected in individuals, 
and may be known to them and be by them described to others, 
does the saving power of Christ eminently attend upon a 
knowledge of his life, as it is revealed in his manifestations 
from his birth to his ascension ; and is it reasonable to expect 
that the redeeming eft'ect of this saving power will be propor- 
tioned to the faithfulness with which his life is studied, and 
the perfectness with which it becomes known, and is contem- 
plated?' " 

After the decision on the merits of the dissertations had 
been reached, it was found on opening the envelopes contain- 
ing the names of the authors, that the premium had been 
awarded to Rev. Geo. Ware Briggs, pastor of the First 
Church in Plymouth, Unitarian. 

The sloop Eagle had her berth at Hedge's wharf. She 
was a snub nosed, broad beamed craft, without a figure head, 
and painted a dull green, unattractive to the public and not 
a much better sailer than the Polly. She was commanded for 
a time by John Battles, Jr., but through most of the years of 
my boyhood, by Richard Pope. Captain Pope was a genial 
man, kind to his crew, and accommodating to his passengers, 
and by his popular ways secured his full share of both freight 
and passengers. After giving up the packet service, perhaps 
about 1840, he engaged in other pursuits, one of which will 
be mentioned in connection with the steamboats running on 
the line between Plymouth and Boston. In 1849 '""^ went to 
California in the ship Samuel Appleton, sailing from New 
York, and on his return he was for a time sexton of the Uni- 
tarian church, and then was appointed keeper of the light- 
house at the Gurnet. Later he was a town watchman for some 
years, and died July 29, 1881, at 83 years of age. 

The sloop Splendid was a handsome craft, well modelled, 
tall masted, had a figure head, was painted bright green, and 
was a fast sailer. To my youthful eyes she was the queen of 



68 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

the line. For a short time she was commanded by Richard 
Pope and Sylvanus Churchill, but through most of my boy- 
hood, after 1832, by George Simmons. Capt. Simmons was 
an energetic man, taking advantage of every opportunity, 
running perhaps at times some risk, and making a trip to 
Boston and back, while the vessels of his prudent rivals lay in 
their berths. I remember seeing him leave the wharf one after- 
noon at sunset with a full load of hollow ware from the Fed- 
eral furnace, and finding her the next morning but one, when 
I looked out of my window at Cole's Hill, lying in her berth 
with a full load of hemp for the Plymouth Cordage Company. 
Capt. Simmons, after he left the packet service, engaged for 
some years in the coal business, and as wharfinger of Hedge's 
wharf, and afterwards until his death, as the manager of 
trucking teams. He died June 4, 1886, eighty years of age. 
Capt. Sylvanus Churchill died March 2, 1878. 

The sloops Harriet and Hector, both probably built in Plym- 
outh, I speak of together, because they were of about the same 
age, and looked very much alike. Both were painted a bright 
green, and were good sailers. The Harriet had a berth at 
Barnes' wharf, and was commanded as long as I knew her 
by Samuel Doten Holmes. Captain Holmes bought in 1829 
the house with a brick end, opposite the Universalist church, 
which he occupied until 1834, when he built and occupied until 
his death the house next above it. He died October 22, 1861. 

The Hector had her berth at Carver's wharf, and was com- 
manded by Bradford Barnes for a short time, but chiefly by 
Edward Winslow Bradford, who after the opening of the 
Old Colony Railroad established with Samuel Gardner, who 
had been a driver on the Boston stage line, the Bradford and 
Gardner express. After some years he sold his interest in 
the express to Isaac B. Rich, but again later he established 
Bradford's express, which he conducted until his death, which 
occurred December 27, 1874. Bradford Barnes, who for a 
time commanded the Hector, lived many years in the house 
on the southerly corner of Lincoln street, in the house which 
stood where Davis building stands, and in the house next 
north of the Universalist church. He died January 22, 1883. 

The sloop Atalanta was built in Plymouth as early as 1830, 
and was commanded at first by Truman C. Holmes. She was 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 69 

afterwards rigged as a schooner, and as early as 1837 was 
commanded by Samuel H. Doten. I think she had her berth 
for a time at Carver's wharf, but I remember seeing her load- 
ing at Hedge's wharf on the 12th of June, 1837, the day 
after the Broad street riot in Boston, about which the crew 
talked as they took in their cargo. Of Capt. Holmes I shall 
have something to say in connection with the steamboat Gen- 
eral Lafayette, and of Capt. Doten in connection with the 
Civil War. 

The sloop Thetis was commanded by Isaac Robbins, and 
had her berth at Hedge's wharf. She was changed to a 
schooner in 1843, and I saw her last about 1865, at anchor 
off Marblehead Neck, loading with gravel. 

The last packet equipped with any view to passenger ser- 
vice was the schooner Russell, owned by N. Russell & Co., 
Phineas Wells, and her commander William Davis Simmons, 
which had her berth at Davis wharf. Having the business of 
her owners she survived the advent of the railroad, and con- 
tinued in service until her wreck. Her fate was a sad one. 
She left Boston on the afternoon of Friday, March 17, 1854, 
with a crew, besides her captain, consisting of Erastus Tor- 
rence, Alpheus Richmond and Ichabod Rogers, and with five 
passengers, Harvey H. Raymond, and his son, Benjamin B. 
Raymond, Elkanah Barnes, Edmund Griffin, son of Grenville 
W. Griffin, and Henry H. Weston, son of Henry Weston. The 
next day in a northwest gale, she went ashore near Billings- 
gate light on Cape Cod, and with the schooner a total wreck, 
all on board were lost. All the bodies came ashore at Well- 
fleet and Truro, and as I was requested to act as administra- 
tor of Capt. Simmons' estate, it became my duty to visit the 
tombs in those towns, where they were deposited, and after 
their identification to arrange for their removal to Plymouth. 

The cause of the disaster can only be conjectured. The 
gale was from the west northwest, and as Billingsgate is 
about east southeast from the Gurnet, where the Russell was 
seen early Saturday morning, it is certain that she was driven 
helpless before it. And as the bodies came ashore in the im- 
mediate vicinity of the wreck, it is equally certain that those 
on board did not leave the vessel before she struck. I see no 
reason why if the rudder was under control, the schooner 



/O PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

could not, even with the partial loss of her sails, have been 
sheered a little southerly to a lee under Manomet, or a little 
easterly to a lee under Wood End. I am therefore inclined 
to think that her rudder was disabled, either by striking a rock 
at the Gurnet in getting away from her anchorage, or by 
striking the tail of Brown's Island in missing stays, and that 
in that condition she became the prey of the gale. 

Since the loss of the Russell the following freighters have 
run at dififerent periods between Plymouth and Boston, though 
not in the order stated : 

The Glide, commanded by Thomas Bartlett and Capt. Joy. 

The Wm. G. Eadie, commanded by Thomas Bartlett and 
Kendall Holmes. 

The M. R. Shepard and Eliza Jane, commanded by Thomas 
Bartlett. 

The Shave and Mary Eliza, commanded by Kendall 
Holmes. 

The Emma T. Story and Anna B. Price, commanded by 
Wm. Nightingale. 

The Martha May, commanded by Wm. Swift, and the Sarah 
Elizabeth, commanded by Daniel O. Churchill. 

Besides the above there were two sloops, the Comet, Capt. 
Ephraim Paty, and the Coral, Capt. John Battles, Jr., which 
were quasi packets, running on no special lines, but sailing 
for any near port to or from which they could find freight. 
Before railroads were built from Boston to the sea ports of 
Massachusetts, all kinds of freight to and from those ports 
were carried necessarily by water. Thus packets were run- 
ning from Boston to every town of importance on the New 
England coast. Those to the nearer places were sloops as to 
Salem, Newburyport, Portsmouth, Barnstable, Plymouth and 
Provincetown ; those to places a little more distant topsail 
schooners ; those to Hartford, New York, Philadelphia, Balti- 
more, Richmond, Savannah and Charleston, brigs, and those 
to Mobile and New Orleans, ships. Plymouth had a very con- 
siderable amount of freight to distribute, cotton cloth, nails, 
anchors, hollow ware, cordage, fish and imported iron, sugar 
and molasses. When these were sent in small amounts they 
were sent to Boston by the regular packets, and transhipped 
to the packets in Boston running on other lines. But if any 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 71 

considerable amount of freight, a gang of rigging for instance 
for Nantucket, a dozen or two anchors for New Bedford, or 
twenty hogsheads of molasses for Hartford, or some other 
port, were wanting transportation, then the Comet and Coral 
found their opportunity, trusting to chance for more or less 
of a return cargo for Plymouth or Boston. If they were need- 
ed to go to Maine ports they were reasonably sure of a lum- 
ber freight home. Indeed, as I remember, these vessels did 
practically the entire lumber business of the town. Capt. Paty 
died in California July 24, 1849, and Capt. Battles died in 
Plymouth March i, 1872. 

There were other packets besides those of Plymouth seen 
''n our waters. There was the Juventa, a Kingston packet, 
and there were the Duxbury packets Union and Glide, com- 
manded by Capt. Martin Winsor, the Spy, the Jack Downing, 
Capt. Holmes, the Traveller, Capt. John Alden, and the Re- 
form, so that with the fifteen running to and from the three 
towns there was rarely a day in suitable weather when more 
than one did not pass the old square pier. In addition to all 
the above, the Barnstable packet sloop Henry Clay not only 
passed within sight, but frequently sought an anchorage in 
the Cow Yard, or came to the wharves. The distance by stage 
of Barnstable from Boston induced a large passenger traffic, 
and she was fitted with a handsome cabin extending to the 
main hatch, lighted by skylights, and containing ample and 
luxurious accommodations. 

There was one other vessel to whose memory I wish to pay 
a tribute on account of the pleasant fishing parties on board of 
her, in which I have participated. Her name was the Rain- 
bow, but whence she came, what her regular business was, 
and whither she went, I never knew. She was a queer craft, 
sailing well on the starboard tack, but as dull as a log on the 
port tack. She would loaf along up Saquish channel with the 
wind southwest, but after rounding the pier she would come 
up Beach channel like a race horse. She reminded me of the 
story of a traveller, who said he saw in South America a race 
of goats made with two long legs on one side and two short 
ones on the other, so that they could walk easily round the 
mountain side. A sailor in the group cried out : "Belay 
there, Captain, how did them air goats sail on t'other tack?" 



72 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER VIII. 



It is singular that the spirit of invention and enter- 
prise, which New England has displayed in the advance 
of civilization, should have been apparently indifferent 
in the development of steam navigation. It is true that her 
activities have been fully exerted in other directions, and that, 
as necessity is the mother of invention, the requirements of 
her manufacturing industries have demanded to the fullest 
extent the display of her genius. The Hudson River and 
New York bay seem to have been the theatre in which those 
early experiments were made, which laid the foundation in 
this country of successful navigation by steam. In these ex- 
periments, as early as 1803, Robert Fulton, assisted by Chan- 
cellor R. Livingston, seems to have led the way. In 1804 Col. 
John Stevens made a trial of a propelling power, consisting 
of a small engine and a screw. He later attached two screws 
to the engine, and the identical machine which he used is now 
owned by the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, 
New Jersey. It was placed on a new hull in 1844, and made 
on the Hudson eight miles an hour. In 1806 Robert Fulton 
built a sidewheel boat one hundred and thirty feet long, pro- 
pelled by steam, with paddles 15 feet in diameter, and floats 
with two feet dip, and went to Albany at the rate of five miles 
an hour. This boat was called the Clermont, the name of the 
seat on the Hudson of Chancellor Livingston, and in 1808 
made regular trips from New York to Albany. 

While these operations were going on, causing a complete 
revolution in the commercial life of the country. New England 
never saw the smoke of a steamboat. The first boat to enter 
Massachusetts Bay was the Massachusetts, built in Philadel- 
phia, and designed by its owners, Joseph and John H. An- 
drews, Wm. Fettyplace, Stephen White, Andrew Watkins 
and Andrew Bell, to run between Boston and Salem. After 
a few unsuccessful trips she was sent to Charleston, S. C, 
and was lost on the passage. 

The next steamboat to enter the waters of Massachusetts 
was the Eagle, which was built in New York and had been 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 73 

for a time in Chesapeake Bay, under command of Capt. Moses 
Rogers, who was later commander of the steamboat Savannah, 
the first steam vessel to cross the Atlantic. She came to Plym- 
outh in 1818, commanded by Lemuel Clark. Capt. Clark was 
either a Plymouth man, or the son of a Plymouth man, and 
had married in 1817 Lydia Bartlett, daughter of the late Ezra 
Finney, who lived, as many of my readers will remember, on 
the westerly corner of Summer and Spring streets. He had 
a son, William, one of my school and playmates, the father 
of William Clark, now living on Cushman street, who at one 
time was the master of the bark Evangeline of Boston. It is 
probable that Capt. Lemuel Clark was induced by his con- 
nection with Plymouth to bring his vessel here, where she 
must have been an object of great interest to the people of 
Plvmouth and the adjoining towns. She remained here a num- 
ber of days, having her berth at Carver's wharf and taking 
daily excursion parties into the bay. She was eight hours on 
her passage from Boston, making about five and one-half 
statute miles per hour. On her return to Boston she ran for 
a time on the Hingham line, but I have no record of her later 
history. A picture of her in oil hangs on the walls of Pil- 
grim Hall, taken from a contemporaneous drawing, and pre- 
sented, through the good offices of Mr. George P. Cushing, 
the manager of the Nantasket Steamboat Company, by the 
artist to the Pilgrim Society, and occupies a frame given by 
the grandchildren of Capt. Lemuel Clark. 

There is no record of the visit of any other steamboat to 
Plymouth until the advent of the General Lafayette, in 1828. 
She was built in New York in 1824. and bought in Boston by 
James Bartlett, Jr., James Spooner and Jacob Covington, with 
the view of establishing a steamboat line between Plymouth 
and Boston. According to her enrolment in the Plymouth 
Custom House, issued September 16, 1828, her name was 
General Lafayette, with one deck, two masts, 82 feet, 7 inches 
long, 6 feet, i inch deep, and measured 92 54-95 tons. For her 
better accommodation the owners of the boat bought Jack- 
son's wharf at the foot of North street, and contracted with 
Jacob and Abner S. Taylor to build at the end of the wharf 
an extension nine hundred feet long and twenty-eight feet 
wide with a T at the end projecting northwesterly one hun- 



74 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

dred feet square. The extension built of piles and timber and 
plank was not completed until the autumn of 1828. In the 
meantime the Lafayette ran through the summer of that year 
from Hedge's wharf, leaving Plymouth at hours when the 
tide served, and leaving Boston at hours which on her arrival 
would enable her to reach her dock. Of course her fuel was 
V'/ood, and she made the passage in five hours, making about 
eight and one-half statute miles per hour. The point reached 
by the wharf was that point on what was called the Town 
Guzzle, where at mean low tide there were four or five feet 
of water. With that depth of water a small steamboat like 
the General Lafayette could reach the extreme end of the 
wharf at all times of tide. The Town Guzzle was a circuitous 
one. It left Broad channel at its extreme southwesterly end, 
and running southwesterly five or six hundred feet, it made 
an easy curve ; thence running northwesterly about eight hun- 
dred feet, and thence with another easy curve running south- 
westerly about four hundred feet to a point reached by the 
wharf. It was perhaps forty feet wide, and with sufficient 
water beyond that width for the dip of paddle wheels, at any 
time except within an hour of low water, there was rarely any 
detention. Steamboats of moderate length found little diffi- 
culty in rounding the curves, but those of greater length found 
it anything but easy work. I remember once the steamboat 
Connecticut left the wharf at near low tide, with a spring line 
from her bow to the wharf to twitch her round the curve, and 
as the line tautened, it snapped, the hither end coming back 
like a whip lash and tripping up, without serious injury, 
about a dozen persons standing near the cap log. I learned 
the lesson then and there to always stand at a distance from 
a spring line. 

In the angle where the T joined the main wharf, there was 
a flight of substantial steps, where boats at all times could 
land, drawing not over two feet of water. This was a great 
convenience, enabling Sam Burgess, with his fish for the 
market, lobster boats from the Gurnet, and the Island and 
Saquish boats, to land without regard to the stage of the tide. 
Many a householder with his mouth made up for a fish din- 
ner has sat by the hour together at the head of those steps, 
waiting for Sam. In those days, too, the only purveyor of 



OF AX OCTOGENARIAN. 75 

lobsters was Joseph Burgess, the keeper of the Hght, and as 
regular as the day he would appear with his lobsters and wear- 
ing his red thrum cap, would wheel his barrow full about the 
town. There was no talk then of short lobsters, nor of ex- 
travagant prices, for nine pence, or twelve and a half cents in 
the currency of the time, would buy a three or four pound 
lobster. The scarcity and small size of this delicious shell fish 
in our day have not been satisfactorily explained. I am in- 
clined to think that the cause is not to be found in the exces- 
sive amount of their catch, but in the appearance on our 
shores, and the increasing numbers, of the tautog, which not 
cnly exhausts the food, which the lobster feeds upon, but also 
feeds on the lobster itself. In my early boyhood, if I am not 
mistaken, the tautog was an unknown fish north of Cape Cod. 
The sandy shores of Barnstable county formed an effectual 
barrier to its northern migration. I think that about 1830 
Capt. Josiah Sturgis, commander of the Revenue Cutter 
Hamilton, brought some live tautog round the Cape and drop- 
ped them in Plymouth Bay. A very few years afterwards the 
first tautog was caught off Manomet, and one or two years 
later several were caught oft' the Gurnet, while now they are 
found all along the shores of ^Massachusetts and Maine. To 
this new fish, in my judgment, may fairly be attributed the 
gradual disappearance of a food fish which was once abundant 
and cheap. 

Returning now to the Lafayette, it can only be said that her 
career was a short one. Under the command of Capt. Tru- 
man C. Holmes, with Seth Morton as steward, she ran through 
the seasons of 1828 and 1829, the latter year making her berth 
at Long wharf, or steamboat wharf, as for many years it was 
called, and then was laid up in Tribble's Dock, or building 
yard, as it was called, north of the wharf to die. Her upper- 
works were removed, and her engine taken out, and my only 
recollection of the vessel is of a dismantled hulk with her 
planking stripped off, and her timbers fastened to the keel, 
standing otherwise unsupported, just visible at high tide above 
the surface of the water. The only incident of her service, 
which I remember, was an attempt with a party of excursion- 
ists, of which my mother was one, to go to Boston and return 
the same day. Night came without her return, and about 



76 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

midnight my mother reached home, having ridden from Scit- 
uate, where the steamboat had put in out of wood. Capt. 
Holmes, her commander, took command in 1830 of the nev/ 
packet sloop Atalanta, and served with her several years until 
she was altered to a schooner, and placed under command first 
of Sylvanus Churchill, and then of Samuel H. Doten. He 
died March 14, 1880, eighty-five years of age. 

In 1830, the year after the Lafayette ceased to run, the 
steamboat Rushlight, Capt. Currie, came to Plymouth and ad- 
vertised to carry passengers to Boston for a dollar and a quar- 
ter, the fare by stage being two dollars, but how long this ar- 
rangement continued I do not know. 

I know of no other steamboat in Plymouth until 1839, when 
the Suffolk ran on excursions to Boston and elsewhere during 
July and August. In 1840 a small steamboat, the Hope, Capt. 
Van Pelt, with a light draft, made regular trips to and from 
Boston during a part of the season. I recall an incident sug- 
gested by the mention of her name. On the nth of Septem- 
ber in that year I was called to Plymouth, being then in college, 
on account of the death of my brother-in-law, Ebenezer G. 
Parker, and left an order at the stage office in the City Hotel 
on Brattle street, to be called for by the stage at my grand- 
mother's in Winthrop Place, leading out of Summer street. 
The Hope left Boston at two o'clock, reaching Plymouth at 
six. The leaving hour of the stage was the same, and as 
the passengers on that day were few in number, it was exactly 
two when I took my seat by the side of Samuel Gardner, the 
driver. As we started, Mr. Gardner said to me. '"Mr. Davis, 
I am going to beat the boat today." The air was clear and 
exhilarating, the four horses were in good trim, and the road 
was in its best condition. Mr. Gardner did not leave the box 
during the trip, the horses were ready at the three places 
where changes were made, and as I dismounted at my moth- 
er's house at Cole's Hill, the boat passengers were coming up 
the wharf. I doubt very much whether any regular stage 
line in this country has ever travelled as our stage did that day, 
thirty-six miles in four hours. 

Shortly after 1840 the steamboat Connecticut came to Plym- 
outh and took excursion parties into the bay, but I do not re- 
member that she made any regular trips to Boston. In 1844, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. yj 

if I am correct in the dates, the steamboat Express, Capt. San- 
ford, ran between Boston and Barnstable, stopping at Plym- 
outh to leave and take passengers. She was a good boat, 
and made the passage to Plymouth in three and a half hours. 
Her managers had built a flat bottomed barge with scow ends, 
which, under the charge of Capt. Richard Pope, at low water 
met her at the upper end of Broad Channel, and exchanged 
passengers and freight. The return of the barge, by the way 
of the Guzzle, especially with wind and tide against her, was 
sometimes tedious, frequently consuming an hour. In 1844 
the steamer Yacht ran a part of the season. 

After 1845 I know of no steamboats coming to Plymouth, 
except occasionally on excursions from Boston for the day, 
until 1880. In the meantime the wharf began to sufifer from 
storms and decay. Of course it was convenient for vessels to 
make fast to, until they could reach their regular berths, and in 
northeast storms it served as a barrier to protect the vessels 
at the short wharves from the wind and waves. At one time a 
bathing house was constructed beneath its flooring. Two 
bathing pools were built in two bays of the wharf, with plank 
floors and walls, and steps leading up into two dressing rOoms 
above the wharf, to which subscribers, or those buying tickets, 
were admitted. These bathing rooms served their purpose 
for a time, but soon, like the wharf, needed repairs and were 
abandoned. 

In 1880 the steamboat Hackensack, owned, I think, by the 
Seaver fish guano factory of Duxbury, made regular daily 
trips to or from Boston, or both, during the summer, except 
while she was repairing damages occasioned by a fire at 
Comey's wharf in Boston, where she lay. At that time the 
whole wharf, except about three hundred feet, which had 
been kept in repair, had by the action of storms and ice been 
practically destroyed, leaving only about a hundred piles with- 
in sight above the water. These were pulled up in 1880 by 
the tug Screamer, some of them requiring a force of thirty- 
three tons to start them from their beds. 

In 1876 an appropriation made by Congress was expended 
in dredging a channel fifty feet wide, and six feet deep from 
Broad channel to the wharf, and in later years the width has 
been increased to one hundred and fifty feet, and the depth 



78 „ PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

to nine feet, at mean low water. A basin connecting with 
the channel has been dredged in front of the short wharves so 
that not only can steamboats of sufficient size reach the docks, 
but barges drawing sixteen feet of water find no difficulty in 
berthing at the pockets of the coal dealers. In 1881 the 
steamboat Stamford, commanded by E. W. Davidson, began 
to run regularly from Boston to Plymouth and back daily, 
and continued to run uninterruptedly until 1895, under the 
same command, except during a part of one season, when, 
owing to some difficulty between Capt. Davidson and her own- 
er, Nathaniel Webster of Gloucester, the former was tem- 
porarily displaced. Capt. Davidson also ran the Shrewsbury 
and Wm. Story each one season, and as a supplementary 
freight boat after the close of one season the Shoe City of 
Lynn. Since 1897, or about that time, the following boats 
have run on the route : The Lillie, Putnam, O. E. Lewis, 
Henry Morrison, Plymouth, Cape Cod, Governor Andrew, 
and Old Colony. During one season the Stamford ran after 
her name was changed to Endicott. During the last three 
seasons the Nantasket Steamboat Co. have had exclusive leases 
of available wharves, and have run the Governor Andrew and 
the Old Colony. The latter is a new boat running in 1904 
for the first time, and is recognized as the most convenient, 
safest and most elegant excursion boat in the waters of Mass- 
achusetts. The wharf is now, with three hundred feet of its 
old timber and pile extension, owned by Charles L and Henry 
H. Litchfield of Plymouth who, having fitted it expressly for 
steamboat purposes, keep it in excellent repair, and have leased 
it to the Nantasket Steamboat Company. The Pilgrim So- 
ciety, owning Pilgrim wharf, refrain from leasing it to any 
competing line, believing that the Nantasket Co. shouM be 
encouraged in their efforts to establish a permanent ahJ Jul- 
cessful enterprise. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 79 



CHAPTER IX. 

Allusion has been made to the embargo and to the Yankee 
shrewdness which evaded the watchfulness of government offi- 
cers whose duty it was to prevent departures from port. The 
following narrative, for the incidents in which I am indebted 
to Capt Charles C. Doten, illustrates the shrewdness to which 
I referred. 

During the Embargo, Plymouth's fishing fleet was laid up 
in the docks, and the owners found themselves cut ofif from the 
trade with the West India Islands. The catch of fish from 
the Grand Banks could not be sold to advantage for want of 
this market, and after being cured remained stored in the 
fish houses. 

England and France then being at war their West India de- 
pendencies were subject to blockade, and as a consequence pro- 
visions which could be run into the ports of either nationality, 
commanded high prices. With such a temptation it was not 
strange that there were found adventurous men in fishing ports 
to hazard the loading of vessels with dry fish, and disregarding 
embargo penalties of our own government, surreptitiously de- 
part "for the West Indies and a market." 

Plymouth was not lacking in this sort of enterprise, and the 
writer proposes to sketch one or two of the "run-a-ways," to 
show the character of the men of those days who a little later 
did the country good service as "privateersmen" when the war 
between the United States and England was fought. 

Anticipating that these attempts to break the embargo would 
be made in spite of stringent regulations, orders were given 
to the customs officers at every port to keep strict watch and 
prevent vessels from going to sea. Accordingly at Plym.- 
outh, Water street was nightly patrolled, and a guard boat 
well manned, and in charge of Capt. Joseph Bradford, was sta- 
tioned in Beach channel to intercept any outward bound vessel 
which might succeed in getting away from the wharves. 
With these precautions it would seem to have been difficultjo 
evade successfully the minions of the law and run out a cargo 



8o PLYMOUTH MEAIORIES 

of fish in defiance of all the Federal government could do to 
prevent it, yet it was done. 

The first schooner v^^as the Hannah, lying at Hedge's, now 
known as Pilgrim wharf, which then had two or three ware- 
houses on it, one of them containing fish. On a dark night an 
Industrious gang of men quietly loaded the vessel from the 
warehouse, but unluckily, before their work was completed, 
the tide fell so that the Hannah grounded, and could not get 
to sea that night as intended. Next day the custom house 
officers noted that the vessel did not rise buoyantly with the 
tide, so going on board they lifted the hatches, and at once dis- 
covered "what was the matter with Hannah." 

Felicitating themselves that they had caught their mouse, 
and determining that there should be no escape, they stripped 
the vessel "to a girtline," that is, they removed all her sails to- 
gether with the running and standing rigging, leaving nothing 
aloft but a single block on each mast through which a line 
was rove for the purpose of hoisting a man when the craft 
was to be re-rigged. All the gear was carted away, 
and, while the fish were left on board, the Hannah being ab- 
solutely reduced to bare poles, the officials were perfectly cer- 
tain that they had made it impossible for her to take her cargo 
to the West Indies. Of course the laugh went round town 
at the expense of the defeated owners, and the officials were 
"cocky" over their smartness. Weeks went by and the in- 
cident passed out of mind, the deeply laden Hannah meantime 
lying in her berth and daily rising and falling with the tide. 
All the same her voyage to Martinique was made up, her cap- 
tain and crew engaged, and the man who was to rig and take 
her out of dock had his gang picked for the purpose, and only 
awaited his opportunity. This man was Capt. Samuel Doten, 
father of our townsmen, the late Major Samuel H. and Capt. 
Charles C. Doten, one of the most energetic shipmasters of his 
day, whom nothing ever daunted, and who liked nothing better 
than a bit of dare-devil business, being perfectly competent for 
anything pertaining to seamanship or calling for executive abil- 
ity. These qualities were well known in this town, so natural- 
ly he was "in it" with the Hannah. Capt. George Adams, 
another old sea dog, was his right-hand man in the part he had 
to do, and there were two or three others, who could handle a 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 8l 

marlinspike and make a knot or seizing as well in darkness as 
at noonday. 

Capt. Doten lived at the foot of the Green, on what is now 
Sandwich street and kept a boat on the south shore near the 
place, where he afterwards built the wharf, now owned by 
Capt. E. B. Atwood. The long waited opportunity came one 
night with a howlmg southeast rain storm, from which the 
Water street watch sought shelter in one of the stores. There 
the officers with pipes and toddy made themselves comfortable, 
while right before their noses the Hannah's decks were alive 
with her own' crew, and Capt. Doten's gang of riggers, who 
had come alongside in boats. A loft which contained the gear 
of another vessel, likewise clean stripped by her careful owner, 
so her rigging might not get weather worn in the months of 
the tie-up, was broken open and the shrouds and stays were 
carried on board the Hannah. Capt. Adams was the man to 
go aloft and put the eyes of the rigging over the mast heads, 
and Capt. Doten arranged for a system of wooden tags to be 
tied to the pieces as they went up, so that by feeling the 
notches cut in the tags, Capt. Adams would know whether 
what he received belonged on the starboard or port side. So 
it was also with the blocks and halliards, and all being under- 
stood, Capt. Adams took his place in the sling tied in the end 
of the girtline, and was soon hoisted to the crosstrees. The 
hours passed, but before daylight the Hannah was rigged, hal- 
liards rove fore and aft, and sails bent, though both rigging and 
sails were too large for her, belonging as they did to another 
vessel of greater tonnage. Capt. Doten had niet this dif- 
ficulty in the case of the standing rigging, which was too long, 
by turning up the ends of the shrouds over hand spikes used 
for shearpoles, and passing the lanyards from the deadeyes at 
the rail also over the handspikes, his deck men then setting taut 
with the watch tackles they had brought, and seizing all off 
securely. The sails were made smaller simply by putting 
in a reef. 

All was now ready, and the Hannah cast off and dropped 
down to the end of the wharf. Capt. Doten, who was a good 
pilot for the harbor, took charge, and with the hoisting of the 
jib the vessel quickly fell off before the wind and ran directly 
along the shore for High Cliff, there then being no Long wharf 



82 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

in the way. This course was taken to avoid the guard boat 
which was supposed to be patrolling the channel along by the 
Beach, the usual way of leaving the port. It was the top of 
high water and there was little likelihood that with proper 
care the vessel would touch anything. At High Cliff Capt. 
Doten ordered the mainsail set and pointed the Hannah's nose 
for the open sea. Then giving the helm to her captain, whose 
name the writer unfortunately has never heard, he gave the 
course to steer, and the schooner went romping down by 
Beach Point at a pace which left no chance for the guard boat 
to intercept her, when from away up Beach channel Capt. 
Bradford descried the fleeting sail. Before getting far down 
the harbor Capt. Doten and his men wished the Hannah and 
hc^r crew a successful voyage, and jumping into their boat 
towing alongside were, before the early morning, snugly 
stowed away in their respective homes. Of course there was 
g^eat excitement when it was found the bird had flown, and 
instantly the conclusion was reached that "Sam Doten had 
nin away with the Hannah," so the officers at once repaired 
to his house where his wife was unconcernedly getting break- 
fast, and Capt. Doten, having apparently just arisen, was leis- 
urely dressing. The officers were greatly surprised at finding 
him and he equally surprised to learn from them that the Han- 
nah had got away, nor did he hesitate to express his gratifica- 
tion that the custom house gang had been so thoroughly out- 
witted. 

The Hannah made an excellent run to the West Indies and 
arrived safely at Martinique, where she sold her fish at $20 
per quintal of 112 pounds and the vessel also was disposed of, 
the aggregate sum which ultimately got around to her owners 
being a very handsome one for the venture. 

The Hope and the Cutter. 
The brig Hope was the next Plymouth vessel to "run the 
embargo." She belonged to William Holmes of this town, 
and loaded a cargo of dry fish at Provincetown, where she 
was seized by the customs officers of that port, and anchored 
in the harbor, with a revenue cutter commanded by Capt. 
Thomas Nicolson of Plymouth lying near at hand to prevent 
her from going to sea. Under these circumstances her owner 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 83 

induced Capt. Samuel Doten, who had "assisted" in the Han- 
nah adventure, to become the principal in "cutting- out" the 
Hope from under the guns of the revenue vessel. 

Selecting his crew, Capt. Doten took charge of the brig 
and waited for things to come around to his liking. What he 
wanted was a smart northeast gale, which is a fair wind out 
of Provincetown, though of course a pretty rough affair to 
contend with in the open bay, and against which he would 
have to work his vessel out past the Cape after getting clear 
of the harbor. No abler or more daring seaman ever trod a 
deck, and, whatever the chances, Capt. Doten was ready to 
take them, so when one night the weather shut in "nasty" with 
indications of the wished for gale the next day, he made his 
preparations. A mooring line was run out aft to keep the 
brig's head toward the harbor mouth, so that her square sails 
should immediately fill before the wind when hoisted. On the 
yards the gaskets keeping the furled sails in place were nearly 
cut off, so that while they still preserved the shape, they would 
part and allow the topsails to be hoisted without having to 
send men aloft to loose them as usual when getting under way, 
much depending on gaming a few minutes over the cutter at 
the start. Vessels of those days had hemp cables, and Capt. 
Doten meant to "cut and run" when the decisive moment came. 

With the morning the gale was piping smartly, and it never 
occurring to the captain of the revenue cutter that a vessel 
would attempt to go to sea in such a blow, he took his gig 
with her crew and went ashore. The ebb tide left the boat on 
the beach while Capt. Nicolson and his men were up town, 
and meanwhile the sympathetic Provincetowners. ready to 
help the Hope, stole the thole pins and an oar or two. This 
was the favorable moment, while the cutter was disabled for 
want of her commander and several men, for whose return 
on board she would have to wait, so Capt. Doten cut his cable 
and stern mooring line, quickly hoisted and sheeted home his 
fore topsail, and was moving down the harbor before the 
lieutenant in charge of the cutter realized the situation. Seiz- 
ing a musket he fired at Capt. Doten, who was at the Hope's 
helm, but made a bad shot. Then he let go a big gun at the 
brig, which also was poorly aimed, and did no harm. It 
served, however, as a signal for Capt. Nicolson to come on 



84 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

board, if he needed more than the evidence of his eyes. The 
town was immediately aHve with excitement, for the sea-faring 
men took in the whole plan and shouted with delight over its 
boldness and sheer sailor-like daring. Men hindered more 
than they helped while pretending to assist in getting the boat 
down to the water, but at last, with her captain on board again, 
the cutter got into full chase, firing her bow guns at the brig 
in hope of crippling her spars if doing nothing more dam- 
aging. Provincetown has rarely seen anything more exciting 
than that running fight, and the story is told there even to this 
day, as the writer can vouch, having himself heard it from an 
old sea dog over there within a few years. 

The Hope was a good sailer, and soon doubled round the 
long, sandy point at the harbor mouth, across which the cutter 
still continued firing, the shots sending the sand into the air 
in clouds as they skipped over the beach. 

After getting outside, Capt. Doten made more sail for the 
better handling of his vessel, and one of his men, William 
Stacy of Boston, went aloft to loose a to'gallant sail. Just as 
he reached the crosstrees and gripped the shrouds for further 
ascent, a shot passed so close to him that, holding by his hands, 
the wind of it strung him out like a flag. Getting his footing 
again he yelled : "A good shot, try it again," and went on 
with his duty. 

The cutter soon got into the open bay where the sea was so 
rough that her firing became entirely ineffectual, and she could 
only chase. Capt. Nicolson, however, was one of the plucky 
kind and meant to do his full duty by keeping the Hope in sight 
if he could do nothing more. The gale became fiercer, and the 
sea rougher as the two vessels got from under the lee of the 
Cape, and that night the cutter was forced ashore near Scitu- 
ate and wrecked, but with no loss of life. Capt. Doten, with 
a loaded vessel under him, which he knew how to handle, 
made better weather of it, and succeeded in beating the Hope 
cut past Cape Cod against the storm, and in a day or two 
was running for the West Indies, intending to make Mar- 
tinique. 

All went well until nearing his destination, when one after- 
noon a big British frigate poked her nose out from behind 
an island right across his path and fired a gun for him to heave 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 85 

to. There was nothing for it but to obey, and a boat with a 
boarding party was soon alongside. The officer wanted to 
know where the brig was bound, to which Capt. Doten repHed, 
"West Indies and a market." "You mean Martinique, don't 
you?" said the officer, "and let me tell you that had you got in 
there the Frenchmen would have given you $25 a quintal for 
your fish ; but you will do well as it is, for Fm going to send 
you into the English island of St. Lucia, and our people will 
give you $16." "Very well," answered Capt. Doten, "Fll go 
to St. Lucia then." "Yes," replied the officer, "Fm sure you 
will, as Fm going with you, for you Yankees are altogether 
too smart and slippery to be trusted alone, with $9 en a quin- 
tal of fish difference as to where you land them." 

So the Hope went into St. Lucia, where Capt. Doten sold 
both fish and vessel, and later he found his wav home with 
$25,000 in Spanish doubloons, a large part of the sum being 
sewed into his clothing, and the writer has heard the Captain's 
wife tell of letting him into the house at about two o'clock 
one morning, and of their sitting up in bed together, ripping 
out the gold pieces and tossing them into a shining pile, of 
which "Hope told a flattering tale." 



86 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER X. 

At the beginning of the Revolution the cod fishery of Plym- 
outh was active and successful, and during the previous ten 
years had employed an average of sixty vessels. During the 
war it was of course seriously depressed, but after the declara- 
tion of peace its recuperation was rapid. In 1802 it had reach- 
ed its maximum of prosperity, before the embargo and the 
war of 1812 again crippled it. In that year there were thirty- 
seven vessels engaged in it, employing two hundred and sixty- 
six men, and landing twenty-six thousand, one hundred and 
seventy-five quintals of codfish, or an average of seven hun- 
dred and seven quintals for each vessel. All but six of these 
vessels made two trips. The following list of the vessels en- 
gaged that year with their tonnage, the names of the skippers 
and the fare of each may be interesting to some of my readers. 

Lucy, Thomas Sears, 75 tons, 800 quintals. 

Old Colony, George Finney, 80 tons, 850 quintals. 

Wm. Davis, Jr., Elkanah Finney, 90 tons, 1000 quintals. 

Mary, Clark Finney, 75 tons, 450 quintals. 

Swan, Thadeus Churchill, Jr., 60 tons, 895 quintals. 

Polly, Amasa Churchill, 45 tons, 800 quintals. 

Ceres, Wm. Brewster, 60 tons, 1,100 quintals. 

Washington, Amasa Brewster, 90 tons, 840 quintals. 

Swallow, Melzar Whiting, 50 tons, 900 quintals. 

Benj. Church, Nathaniel Clark, 70 tons, 350 quintals. 

Crusoe, Stephen Payne, 60 tons, 900 quintals. 

Nightingale, Ansel Holmes, 35 tons, 700 quintals. 

Union, Samuel Virgin, 70 tons, 850 quintals. 

Rose, Barnabas Dunham, 55 tons, 710 quintals. 

Dove, Wm. Barnes, 34 tons, 650 quintals. 

Seaflower, Isaac Bartlett, 60 tons, i.ooo quintals. 

Nathaniel Sylvester, 80 tons, 800 quintals. 

Ansel Holmes, 60 tons, 500 quintals. 

Phebe, John Allen, 75 tons, 700 quintals. 

New State, Joseph Holmes, 50 tons, 700 quintals, 

Drake. Barnabas Faunce, 44 tons. 550 quintals. 

Columbia, Truman Bartlett, 70 tons, 700 quintals. 

Neptune, Chandler Holmes, 55 tons, 600 quintals. 

Esther, Seth Robbins, 45 tons, 600 quintals. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 87 

Lucy, Eben Davie. 50 tons, 600 quintals. 

Caroline, Ellis Holmes, 60 tons, 800 quintals. 

Hero, Joseph Doten, 60 tons, 600 quintals. 

Industry, Joseph Ryder, 60 tons. 600 quintals. 

Federalist, Finney Leach, 80 tons, 750 quintals. 

Eag-le. Jabez Churchill, 30 tons, 300 quintals. 

Polly, Lemuel Leach, 70 tons, 700 quintals. 

Leader, Job Brewster, 35 tons, 660 quintals. 

Manson, Ellis Brewster, 105 tons, 450 quintals. 

Rosebud, Andrew Bartlett, 40 tons, 580 quintals. 

Hawk, Samuel Churchill, 60 tons, 700 quintals. 

Seaflower, Ansel Bartlett, 40 tons, 790 quintals. 

Rebecca, Codman, 50 tons, 700 quintals. 

After the peace of 181 5 the fishery entered upon a season 
of renewed activity, which continued with occasional periods 
of relaxation until its final extinction. The government having 
found during the revolution that fishermen made up a large 
share of naval enlistments, adopted the policy of aiding and 
encouraging the fishing industry, and in 1789 Congress passed 
an act granting a bounty of five cents per quintal on dried fish, 
and imposed a duty of fifty cents per quintal on imported fish. 
In 1790 the bounty of five cents was increased to ten, but on 
the 1 6th of February, 1792, the bounty of ten cents per quintal 
was discontinued, and an allowance was made to vessels em- 
ployed in the cod fishery at sea for four months between the 
last day of February and the last day of November, according 
to the following rates : Vessels between twenty and thirty tons 
were to receive $1.50 per ton annually, and those of more than 
thirty tons, $2.50 per ton, but the allowance to any vessel was 
limited to $170. In 1797 the allowance was increased one- 
third ; but in 1807 all bounties were abolished. In 1813 the 
bounty was revived and the allowance fixed as follows : To 
vessels from five to twenty tons, $1.60 per ton; to those from 
twenty to thirty, $2.40 per ton, and to those above thirty, $4, 
but no vessel was to receive more than %2'j2. In 1819 an al- 
lowance was made to vessels from five to thirty tons of $3.50 
per ton, and to those of more than thirty, $4 per ton, but ves- 
sels having a crew of ten men were to be allowed $3.50 per 
ton on a service of three months and a half. No vessel, how- 
over, was to receive more than $360. By an act passed in 
1817, it was required in order to entitle a vessel to receive a 



88 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

bounty that the master and three quarters of the crew should 
be citizens of the United States, but in 1864 this requirement 
was Hmited to the masters. By an act passed July 28, 1866, 
bounties w^ere abolished, and duties on salt used in curing fish 
were remitted. 

The abolition of bounties was a blow to the fishing interests, 
which w^as destined to be followed by a more deadly one. It 
cannot, however, be said that it was wholly undeserved, for 
the requirement of four months' service at sea had been often 
evaded. A ver>' considerable number of the fishing fleet re- 
turned home before four months had expired, and anchoring 
in beach channel by night and cruising in the bay by day, spent 
the time in w4iat was called bounty catching, until the expira- 
tion of the four months. 

But a severer blow than the loss of bounty soon fell on the 
fishery. In 187 1 the treaty of Washington between the United 
States and Great Britain provided that "fish oil and fish of all 
kinds, except fish of the inland lakes, and of the rivers falling 
into them, and except fish preserved in oil, being the produce 
of the fisheries of the United States, or of the Dominion of 
Canada, or of Prince Edward Island, shall be admitted into 
each country, respectively, free of duty." This treaty went 
into operation July i, 1873, to remain in force for ten years, 
and further until the expiration of two years after the United 
States or Great Britain shall have given notice to terminate it. 

At the time of the repeal of the bounty law in 1866, the 
product of the Plymouth fishery taking the returns from the 
previous year as a basis of an estimate was as follows : Value 
of fish, $261,053; value of oil, $24,530; bounties, $14,249, and 
the number of men employed was 420. I am inclined to think 
that the largest number of vessels ever employed was in the 
year 1862, when sixty-seven were employed, but in 1873, the 
year the treaty of Washington went into operation, there were 
only twenty. 

As nearly as I can judge the following is a correct list of 
vessels engaged in the fishery since 1828; 
Abby Morton Albert 

Abeona Albion 

Adelaide Annie Eldridge 

Adeline Anti 

Albatross Arabella 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



89 



Arno 

Aurora 

Austin 

Avon 

Banker 

Ben Perley Poor 

Betsey 

Blue Wave 

Black Warrior 

Brontes 

California 

Caroline 

Ceres 

Challenge 

Charles 

Charles 

Charles Augusta 

Charles Henry 

Christie Johnson 

Clara Jane 

Climax 

Clio 

Clifford 

Cobden 

Coiner 

Columbia 

Columbus 

Conanchet 

Confidence 

Congress 

Constitution 

Cora 

Costello 

Deborah 

Deliverance 

Delos 

Delta 

Dolphin 

Drake 

Duck 

Eagle 

Elder Brewster 

Eleanor 

Eliza 

Eliza Ann 

Elizabeth 

Ellis 

Engineer 

Enterprise 



Essex 

Experience 

Fairplay 

Fair Trade 

Favorite 

Fearless 

Fisher 

Flash 

Flora 

Fornax 

Florida 

Forest King 

Fortune 

Franklin 

Fred Lawrence 

Fredonia 

Gentile 

George 

George Henry 

Glendora 

Glide 

Grampus 

Guide 

Hannah 

Hannah Coomer 

Hannah Stone 

Hattie Weston 

Helena 

Herald 

Hercules 

Hero 

Hiram 

Home 

Horatio 

Howard 

Independence 

Industry 

Jane 

John Eliot 

John Fehrman 

Joshua Bates 

Juvenile 

Latona 

Leo 

Leonidas 

Lewis Perry 

Linda 

Linnet 

Lizzie W. Hannum. 



90 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



Ijouisa Rescue 

Lx>uise Resoluuon 

Lucy Risk 

Lyceum Rival 

Malvina Robert Roberts 

]\Ianchester Rollins 

Manomet Roxanna 

Maria Sabine 

Martha Washington Samuel 

Mary A. Taylor Samuel Davis 

Mary Baker Sarah and Mary 

Mary Chilton Sarah E. Hyde 

Mary Holbrook Sarah Elizabeth 

Mzry Susan Scud 

Massachusetts Seadrift 

Matilda Seaflower 

May Seafoam 

Mayflower Sea Witch 

May Queen Seneca 

Medium Silyer Spring 

Molly Foster Speedwell 

Mona Storm King 

Mountain King Stranger 

Nahant Sunbeam 

Naiad Queen Surprise 

Nathaniel Doane Susan 

Neptune Swallow 

N. D. Scudder Thatcher Taylor 

Oasis Thetis 

Ocean Three Friends 

Old Colony Traffic 

Olive Branch Tremont 

Ontario Vesper 

Orion Village Belle 

Oronoco Volant 

Pamlico Wampatuck 

Perseverance Wanderer 

Philip Bridges Wave 

Pezarro Wide Awake 

President Willie Lord 

Profit Wm. Tell 

Rainbow Wm. Wilson 

Reaper Winslow 
Reform 

The following list of vessels employed in 1868 shows the 
gradual reduction of the fleet from sixty-seven in 1862 to 
twenty in 1873 • 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



91 



Abby Morton 

Adeline 

Avon 

Charles 

Charles Augusta 

Clara Jane 

Climax 

Cora 

Delos 

Dolphin 

Elizabeth 

Engineer 

Favorite 

Florida 

Forest King 

George 

George Henry 

Glendora 

Helena 

Herald 

Joshua Bates 

Juvenile 

Linnet 

Louisa 

Manomet 

Manchester 

Martha Washington 

Mary Chilton 



Mary Taylor 

Mary Susan 

Matilda 

May Flower 

May Queen 

Nahant 

Naiad Queen 

N. D. Scudder 

Oasis 

Ocean 

Olive Branch 

Oronoco 

Profit 

Risk 

Samuel 

Samuel Davis 

Seadrift 

Sea Witch 

Silver Spring 

Sunbeam 

Surprise 

Swallow 

Thatcher Taylor 

Tremont 

Volant 

Wave 

Wampatuck 

Winslow 



In 1869 there were fifty-four; in 1870, fifty-two; in 1871, 
forty; in 1872, twenty-six; in 1873, twenty; in 1874, twelve; 
in 1876, twelve; in 1878, eleven; in 1879, ten; in 1880, eight; 
in 1881, seven; in 1882, two; in 1883, two; in 1884, eight; in 
1885, three; in 1886, one; in 1888, one, the Hannah Coomer, 
Capt. Nickerson, the last vessel to go to the Banks from Plym- 
outh. In 1882 Prince Manter bought the Sabine, and Capt. 
James S. Kelley made seven trips in her in four summers, the 
last vessel to go to the Grand Banks, while the Hannah 
Coomer was the last to go to Quereau Bank. 

The following is a list of fishing vessels lost since 1828, as 
complete as I am able to make it : 

Abby Morton, Joseph Whitton, master, lost in Hell Gate, 
New York. 

Adelaide, Capt. Joseph Sampson, was lost on the Banks. 

Samuel, condemned in Nova Scotia. 

Brontes, on a passage from Aux Caves, to Boston, left 



92 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Holmes Hole December 31, 1862. and was never heard from. 
Her crew consisted of John E. Morton, captain ; George 
Morey, mate, and Samuel Howland, Isaac Howland, Bartlett 
Finney and Josiah H. Swift. 

Charles, Isaac Howland, master, was lost on Cape Cod, 

Charles, Isaac Swift, master, left Plymouth September 29, 
t868, on a fall fishing trip, and was never heard from. 

Congress, owned by Samuel Doten, was lost. 

Wampatuck, seized in Nova Scotia in 1870 or 1871. 

Delos, sunk in Nantucket Roads in 1872. 

Wm. Tell, sold before 1828, and lost on Grand Banks in 
1829. 

Christie Johnson, Solomon M. Holmes, master, was lost on 
the banks in 1874. 

Ellis, was lost on Cape Cod in 1844. 

Flash, Eli H. Minter, master, was lost in the West Indies 
in 1865. 

Fred Lawrence was lost. 

Herald, lost or sold in Nova Scotia in 1870. 

Linnet, Wm. Langford, master, was lost with all hands, 
in September, 1870. 

Martha Washington, Capt. Gooding, was lost in Nova Sco- 
tia in 1874. 

Mary A. Taylor, Lewis King, master, was lost or sold in 
Nova Scotia in 1874. 

May was lost in 1871. 

Ocean, Jerry McCuskey, master, was lost in Nova Scotia 
in 1870. 

Olive Branch was lost in 1869. 

President, John Ellis Bartlett, master, lost in 1828, bound 
to Martinique. 

President, Stephen D. Drew, master, was lost on Cape Cod 
in 1844. 

Rollins, Charles Harlow, master, was lost on Cape Cod in 
1868. 

Seadrift was lost or sold in 1871 in Nova Scotia. 

Speedwell was lost in the West Indies in 1865. 

Swallow was lost or sold in Nova Scotia in 1871. 

Thatcher Taylor, James Simmons, was lost or sold in 1871. 

Fearless, Capt. George N. Adams, sailed from Boston for 
Aux Cayes, August 13, 1862, and was never heard from. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 93 

John Eliot, Francis H. Weston, master, sailed from Boston 
October g, 1863, for Cape Haytien, and crew taken off Novem- 
ber 21 by schooner Thrasher, and landed at Port Spain. 

Mary Holbrook, was lost in the Gulf. January 25, 1831. 

Joshua Bates was lost on Richmond Island in February, 
1876. 

Franklin was lost at the \\>stern Islands in 1837. 

George Henr\', Lamberton, master, was condemned in West 
Indies, 1869. 

Vesper, Capt. Burgess, sailed from New York, February 
28, 1846, for Jamaica, and was lost probably in a gale ]\Iarch 2. 

Flora, Benjamin Jenkins, master, was spoken August 8, 
1846. with 15,000 fish; August 21, with 21,000; August 28, 
with 23,000; September 17, with 30,000, and was probably 
lost in a gale which occurred September 19, 1846. 

Coiner, Samuel Rogers, master, was lost on a passage home 
from Inagua in 1865. 

Stranger was lost at sea near St. Thomas, 1835. 

Oronoco was lost in 1871. 

Schooner Maracaibo, changed to a brig before she entered 
the whale fishery, has been earlier mentioned without any de- 
tails of her loss. She sailed from Plymouth on a whaling voy- 
age September 12, 1846. On the 19th, in latitude 38.22, and 
longitude 72.35, she was capsized, losing second mate, Wm. 
Tripp, of Tiverton, David Sylvia seaman, and George Ellis of 
Plymouth, also a seaman, who w^as drowned in the forecastle. 
The masts went by the board, and the brig righted, and Capt. 
Collingwood and eighteen men were lashed to the wreck nine- 
ty-six hours with only a barrel of sugar to eat. On the twen- 
ty-third they battered down the hatches and bailed the vessel 
out, and on the twenty- fourth set up jury masts. On the 
twenty-fifth they obtained from the bark Newton of New 
Bedford two spars and gear, and a c|uadrant, and finally, after 
being on the wreck twenty-one days, were taken cfif by the 
bark Clement. 

The question is often asked, what becomes of all the vessels 
that have been built? Upon this question official records 
throw some light. The last accessible statistics show that 
during the ten years from 1879 to 1889, nineteen thousand 
one hundred and ninety United States vessels were wrecked 



94 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



on or near the coasts, or on the inland waters of the United 

States, and during the same period, sixty-six hundred and 

forty-one British vessels. 

The following is an imperfect list of skippers since 1828: 

Wm. Grindle 
Frew Gross 



Benjamin Nye Adams 
George Adams 
George N. Adams 
John Allen 
George Allen 
Winslow Allen 
Thomas Atwood 
\Ym. Atwood 
Solomon Attaquin 
Coleman Bartlett 
Frederick Bartlett 
Nathaniel Bartlett 
Benjamin Bates 
Braman L. Bennett 
John Briggs 
Frederick Burgess 
Henry Burgess 
James Burgess 
Phineas F. Burgess 
Horatio G. Camero 
A. R. Games 
John Chase 
John B. Chandler 
Samuel Chandler 
Ephraim F. Churchill 
Joseph Qiurchill 
Lionel Churchill 
Edward Clough 
Isaac Connors 
James Cornish 
Thomas E. Cornish 
Edward Courtney 
Ichabod Davie 
Lemuel Doten 
Nathaniel Doty 
Horace J. Drew 
Stephen D. Drew 
Daniel Eldridge 
Barnabas Ellis 
Stephen Finney 
Henry Gibbs 
Grenville W. Griffin 
John Griffin 



Thomas Hannagan. 
Branch Harlow 
Charles Harlow 
Richard W. Harlow 
Nathan Haskins 
Robert Hogg 
Gideon Holbrook 
Barzillia Holmes 
George Holmes 
Solomon M. Holmes 
Isaac Howland 
John Howland 
Lemuel C. Howland 
Abiatha Hoxie 
Nathaniel Hoxie 
Robert Hutchinson 
Benjamin Jenkins 
Wm. Jordan 
James S. Kelley 
Lewis King 
Robert King 
William King 
Wellington Lambert 
Wm. Langford 
Moses Larkin 
Ezra Leach 
Lemuel Leach 
David Manter 
David L. Manter 
George Manter 
Prince Manter 
Owen McGahan 
Jake McCarthy 
Jerry McCluskey 
Duncan McDonald 
Eli H. Minter 
George Morey 
Wm. Morrisey 
John Morse 
Josiah Morton 
Lemuel Morton 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



95 



Levi P. Morton 
Wm. MuUins 
Grant C. Parsons 
John Parsons 
Ezra Pierce 
Ignatius Pierce 
Richard Pike 
Calvin Raymond 
Henry Rickard 
Warren P. Rickard 
Francis Rogers 
George Rogers 
David Robertson 
Joseph Ross 
Thomas Ryan 
Andrew Sampson 
Joseph Sampson 
Nathan B. Sampson 
Sylvanus Sampson 
Angus Scott 
Daniel Sears 
Hiram B. Sears 
Wm. Sears 
Nathaniel Simmons 



James Simmons 
Wm. Stephens 
Isaac Smith 
Joseph Smith 
Luther Smith 
Peter W. Smith 
Thomas Smith 
— Sparrow 
Isaac Swift 
Philip Snow 
Nahum Thomas 
Lewis W. Thrasher 
Oliver C. Vaughn 
Perez Wade 
John B. Walker 
Robert Washburn 
Solomon Webquish 
John Whitmore 
Samuel O. Whittemore 
Joseph Whitten 
Samuel M. Whitten 
George R. Wiswell 
Lemuel R. Wood 
Edward Wright 



There are several disconnected items which may be 
mentioned in this chapter. The Sunbeam, sold a few years 
ago, was employed in 1905 in carrying gravel from the 
Gurnet to Boston, and the Sabine, sold at the same time, is used 
as a house boat in Boston harbor by a Portuguese lobsterman. 
The Maria of Plymouth, and the schooner R. Leach of Bucks- 
port, ]Me., were the first United States vessels to use, in 1859, 
trawls in salt fishing. It was a method of fishing introduced 
by the French, and until the above date was looked upon as 
an experiment. It may not be generally known that there is 
a Plymouth Rock on the banks. It is laid down in "Sailing 
Directions for the Island and Banks of New Foundland,'' etc., 
published in 1882, as one of the Eastern shoals, a group around 
Nine-fathom Bank, which latter lies in latitude 46.26.45 N. 
and longitude 50.28.06 W. Plymouth Rock has 15 fathoms of 
water, and was named in honor of Capt. Burgess, of the 
schooner Lvceum of Ph-mouth, who discovered it. 



96 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XL 

The following is a detailed account of the loss of 
the Plymouth bark Charles Bartlett, which on the 27th of 
June, 1849, was nm down and sunk by the Cunard steamship 
Europa. The incidents attending the disaster possess an in- 
terest in themselves, while the trial in the English law courts 
of a suit for damages brought by the owners of the bark in 
the early days of ocean steam navigation, was an important 
one, establishing as it did the duties of steam navigators and 
their liability in damages for a failure to perform them. 

The Charles Bartlett was a bark of four hundred tons, built 
in Westbrook, Maine, and owned by Wm. L. Finney and others 
of Plymouth. She left the Downs on the 14th of June, 1849, 
bound for New York with a cargo of about four hundred and 
fifty tons of iron, lead, etc., and with one cabin passenger and 
one hundred and sixty-two in the steerage. Her officers and 
crew were William Bartlett of Plymouth, Captain ; Thomas 
Parker of Charleston, S. C, first officer; Wm. Prince, second 
officer, and George Parsons of Portland, Me., Wm Rich of 
Gravesend, England, Isaac Hanson, James Eraser, John Bell, 
Joshua Carey, Levi Hunt, Wm. Perry, John Jordan, John 
Jackson and Harrison D. White, seamen. On the 27th of 
June, in latitude 50.48 N., longitude 29 W., in a thick fog, 
which gathered after the noon observation had been taken, 
the bark was heading northwest with the wind west by south, 
close hauled and all sails set. At half-past three the captain, 
who was standing on the weather side of the poop deck, caught 
sight of the steamship about one point forward of the beam, 
and about four hundred yards distant. He ordered his helm 
up and shouted to the steamer to port her helm. The officer 
of the deck on the Europa, however, ordered his helm put to 
starboard, which order was countermanded before the wheel 
had been turned one round. If the starboard helm had pro- 
duced any effect, it was of course to make a collision the more 
sure, while if the helm had been at first promptly put to port 
there is room for doubt whether, as the bark was all the 



OF AN OCTOGEXARIAN. 97 

time going ahead, the steamer might not have sHpped by her 
stern without causing serious damage. As it was, the Europa 
going at twelve and a l^alf knots, struck the bark abreast of 
her main shrouds in one minute after she was first seen, and 
three minutes later the bark went down. The steamer's bow 
entered to within a foot of the after hatch, tearing away 
twenty feet of the bark's side, and suffering as her own damage 
only the loss of her head knees and her foretopmast. At the 
moment of the collision, about one hundred passengers were 
on deck, and it was estimated that about one half of them were 
killed by the impact. The captain and second officer and nine 
of the crew and thirty passengers were saved, all but ten of 
whom, who were picked up by boats, were saved by clinging 
to the bows of the steamer, and climbing on board. 

The Europa had a full passenger list, and the excitement 
caused by the terrible scenes of the collision was followed by 
a serious anxiety for the safety of their own vessel, v.-hich only 
prompt investigations and the assurance of the officers that 
the hull was uninjured could allay. Among the passengers 
was Capt. Robert B. Forbes of Boston, who with that generous 
impulse and heroic courage which had always characterized 
him risked his life by leaping into the sea and aided in the 
rescue of his drowning fellow men. For the service rendered 
by him, a medal was presented to him by the Liverpool Ship- 
wreck and Humane Society, and another by the Massachu- 
setts Humane Society. The Cunard Steamship Company gave 
twenty pounds toward the relief of the survivors of the Charles 
Bartlett, and a free passage to America. 

A suit was brought by the owners and underwriters to re- 
cover damages estimated at twelve thousand pounds, and tried 
in the English Admiralty Court, and the facts which I have 
stated were presented to the court by the plaintiffs. The res- 
ponsive allegation in behalf of the Europa, claimed that the 
collision occurred in the usual track for steamers, but that it 
was two or three degrees to the north of the usual track of 
sailing vessels. It denied that there was a concentrating point 
in the Atlantic, and alleged that the noise of the paddle wheels 
might have been heard in the direction of the bark three or 
four miles, and that it was ow'ing to some negligence that the 
bark was not therefore warned of the approach of the steamer. 



98 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

It further alleged that though the third officer ordered the 
helm to be starboarded, before the order could be obeyed the 
order was revoked, and the wheel was directed to be put hard 
a port. The engines were stopped so that before the collision 
the steamer had come up to the wind a point and a half. It 
was still further alleged that the bark was going from five and 
a half to six knots an hour, having all possible sails set, and 
had neglected to fire guns, blow her fog horn or ring her bell 
at short intervals, so that those on board the steamer could be 
cognizant of her approach. 

The presiding judge, addressing his brethren of the Court, 
said that these cases are becoming so numerous that it was for 
the interest of the owners of ships that they should be decided 
promptly. With regard to the burden of proof, it is of course 
necessary for the plaintiff to present all the evidence reason- 
ably within his power, but that after he has done that it rests 
upon the other party to show that they have not been guilty 
of the acts attributed to them. With regard to the distance at 
which the vessels were seen by each other, and the lime which 
elapsed before the collision, nothing is more difficult than to 
find consistent evidence. The conclusion of the allegation in 
defense is in substance that the collision was either the result 
of inevitable accident, or was the fault of those on board the 
Charles Bartlett. What is an inevitable accident? Inevitable 
must be considered as a variable temi, and must be construed 
with regard to the circumstances of each case. In almost 
every case it is possible to avoid a collision by going at a slow 
pace, or lying to during a fog, but the import of the words 
"inevitable accident" is this, where a man is pursuing his law- 
ful vocation in a lawful manner, and something occurs which 
no ordinary caution could prevent. Continuing, the presiding 
Judge said to his brethren of the Court, "It is very easy to de- 
fine what is a lawful vocation, but it is not so easy to say what 
is a lawful manner. The test is the probability of injury to 
others, and that of course depends on circumstances, as for 
instance the time and locality where the occurrences take place. 
The object of our inquiry is whether in the case of the Europa 
going about twelve and a half knots an hour in so dense a fog 
that she could not see beyond one hundred and fifty or two 
hundred yards, and in latitude 50.48 and longitude 29, there 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 99 

was more than ordinary probability of meeting vessels. If 
there was a reasonable probability of a collision, then beyond 
all doubt she would be to blame. If, however, there was no 
reasonable probability of meeting vessels in the track pursued, 
she was nevertheless bound to take all necessary precautions 
to insure safety. One of the most important questions as to 
these precautions which we are to decide, is whether there was 
or was not a sufficient lookout on board the Europa. The law 
undoubtedly requires as a reasonable lookout the most ample 
that could be adopted. Was there such a lookout on board the 
.steamer? According to the evidence the general practice on 
the Europa in dense fogs was as follows : first to station an 
officer on the foremost bridge; second, his junior at the Con; 
third, a quartermaster at the wheel ; fourth, a second hand in 
the wheelhouse, and fifth and sixth, two lookouts on the top- 
gallant forecastle. There is some evidence also tending to 
show that a man was stationed in case of a fog on the lee side 
of the bridge, and also a man at the crank to convey orders to 
the engine room. Now, the actual watch when the collision 
occurred was as follows : Wardell, the second officer, was on 
the bridge ; Coates, a quartermaster, on the topgallant fore- 
castle; White, at the wheel, and Fern, another quartermaster, 
at the Con, and I do not find any other person on the lookout. 
The second man is placed at the wheel so that in case of neces- 
sity it may be turned as promptly as possible. There is an 
entire absence of evidence as to whether at the time of the col- 
lision there was in operation any means of communicating or- 
ders to the engine room, or whether any orders were really 
communicated." Continuing, the presiding Judge said : "You 
will have to decide also whether there was more than one man 
at the wheel, and lastly, whether the order to starboard the 
helm, which is agreed on all hands to have been erroneous, did 
or did not produce any efllect in the case. Looking at the 
rapidity with which the vessels were approaching each other, 
the last mentioned consideration is one of importance." 

With regard to the Charles Bartlett the Judge said, "Was 
she carrying too much sail ; was there a want of a sufficient 
look-out, and above all is it your opinion that she ought to have 
sounded a fog horn or rung a bell ? Whether she ought to 
have heard the paddle wheels before she did, and neglected to 



lOO TLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

take measures to avert a collision, is one of the questions for 
you to decide. But it is in evidence that even if she could 
have heard them, no fog horn could have been heard on board 
the steamer above the sound of the paddles.'' 

The Court retired, and returning at the end of half an hour. 
Dr. Lushington, the presiding Judge, then said : "In conjunc- 
tion with the gentlemen by whom I am assisted, we have con- 
sidered all the points in this case, which I have suggested as 
necessary to be determined, and I trust that there has been no 
omission as to any one of them. We have come unanimously 
to the following determination: That no rate of sailing by 
steamers or other vessels can be said to be absolutely danger- 
ous ; but whether any given rate is dangerous or not, must de- 
pend on the circumstances of each individual case, as the state 
of the weather, locality and other similar facts. That the rate 
of twelve and a half knots an hour in a dense fog in the locality 
where this occurrence took place, must be attended with more 
risk than a slower pace ; but assuming that it might be accom- 
plished with reasonable security, and without probable risk to 
other vessels, such rate of going could not be maintained with 
such security, except by taking every possible precaution 
against collision. That proper precaution was not taken by 
the Europa : First, she had not a sufficient look-out ; second, 
we think that no proper arrangement was made as to the en- 
gines ; third, because no person was placed to report to the en- 
gineers the orders as to the engines ; fourth, because no second 
person was placed in the wheel house ; fifth, that the order to 
starboard the helm was erroneous. We are of the opinion that 
if proper precautions had been adopted, the accident might have 
been avoided, and that the collision took place for want of the 
proper precautions. With respect to the Charles Bartlett, we 
are of opinion that a good look-out was kept on board ; that 
she discovered the approach of the Europa as soon as circum- 
stances would permit ; that she adopted all proper mxcasures to 
avoid the collision by ringing the bell and putting the helm to 
port. Therefore, I must pronounce against the Europa in this 
case." 

After the decision of the Court was read, Mr. Rothery, the 
proctor for the Europa, gave notice of appeal. All appeals 
from the Admiralty Court, which until the time of William 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. lOI 

4th were made to the High Court of Aclmiraky, are now made 
to the King in council, and are referred to the Judicial Com- 
mittee of the Privy Council, which committee is composed of 
the Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, the Master of 
the Rolls, the Vice Chancellor of England, and other ex-officio 
officers. The appeal in question was heard by Lord Justice 
Cranworth, Lord Justice Sir James Knight Bruce, Sir Her- 
bert Jenner Fust, and Sir Edward Ryan, and judgment was 
delivered by Lord Justice Cranworth, December i, 185 1. It 
is unnecessary to relate the grounds of the judgment of the 
committee, as they were for the most part the same as those 
v/hich entered into the decision of the Admiralty Court. There 
is one part, however, to which I wish to refer, because it lays 
down a rule for the guidance of ocean steam navigators, broad- 
er and more exacting than any suggested by the Admiralty 
Court. x\n important question in the examination of witnesses 
w^as whether it would have been possible to stop the steamer, 
or so far stop her as to enable her to get out of the way within 
the distance between the two vessels when they were first seen 
by each other. The preponderance of testimony was that she 
could not if going twelve and a half knots an hour. The pe- 
culiarity of this question is that an answer either in the affirma- 
tive or negative would bear against the Europa. If she could 
get out of the way and did not, she is to blame. If she could 
not get out of the way, the committee say that "it follows as an 
inevitable consequence that she was sailing at a rate of speed at 
which it was not lawful for her to navigate." The judgment 
closes as follows : "Their lordships have come to the opinion 
that the accident was without default on the part of the Charles 
Bartlett and was through the neglect of the Europa. The con- 
sequences will be that the appeal will be dismissed with costs." 
In closing the narrative of this important case it is pleasant 
to remember the enconiums of the London press on the intelli- 
gence and general demeanor of our late townsman, Capt. Wil- 
liam Bartlett, as displayed by him during the trial. The mas- 
ter mariners of New England were fortunate in having in a 
foreign land so worthy a representative. 



I02 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XII. 

The migration from New England and the middle states to 
California in 1849 ^^^ 1850, was one of the remarkable events 
in the history of the American Union. It was one of those 
events, of which the history of the world furnishes many ex- 
amples, accomplishing in the end results far removed from the 
purposes sought in their conception, and apparently carrying 
out the designs of an overruling providence, in which man has 
only served as its instrument. It is a question worthy of con- 
sideration, whether the destiny of the American republic would 
have reached its present measure of accomplishment, without 
the inspiration which a mere thirst for gold served to excite. 
It was another of those incidents, of which the Pilgrim coloni- 
zation was a striking example, whch reached its consummation 
through the aid of the merchants of London, who were looking 
merely for discoveries of ores of gold and silver to reward their 
enterprise. 

On the 9th of February, 1848, while three Americans were at 
work repairing the race way of Sutter's Mill, on the American 
fork of Sacramento river, a little daughter of Mr. Marshal, the 
superintendent of the mill, picked up a lump of gold, and show- 
ed it to her father as a pretty plaything. The discovery was too 
important to be kept secret, and a letter written by Rev. C. S. 
Lyman appeared in the March number of the American Jour- 
nal of Science announcing it to the world. No news ever 
spread more rapidly. In the New England states, and in 
Massachusetts, especially, a wave of migration set in, which 
was as strong in Plymouth as elsewhere. The time was fav- 
orable; the supply of labor was just then greater than the de- 
mand, and the temptation to seek wealth in California became 
almost irresistible. Those who at once made preparations to 
go were the bone and sinew of the town, carpenters, masons, 
painters and clerks, and for a time after their departure our 
j;treets seemed almost deserted. 

Among the first to leave were those who sailed in the Brig 
Isabelle of Plymouth, Chandler Burgess, Jr. of Plymouth, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. IO3 

master, which sailed from New York, January 14, 1849. Her 
passengers were : Ephraim Paty, Jr., James Burgess, Jr., Free- 
man Morton, Jr., Stephen Pember, Winslow Morton, George 
Morton of Plymouth, and twenty-one others. 

The schooner Roanoke sailed from Boston, January 19, 
1849, carrying Russell Bourne, John E. Sever and Frederick 
Morton of Plymouth. 

The Capitol from Boston sailed in January, 1849, with Ru- 
fus Ball, Thomas Atwood, Thomas Wood, James A. Young, 
Jacob Hersey, James M. Thomas, Daniel Bickford, George E. 
Lugerder, Adam E. Stetson, George E. Burns, Tolman French 
and one hundred and eighty-four others. 

The Rochelle sailed from Boston, February 7, 1849, with 
Daniel P. Bates, Wm. Churchill, Josiah Byram, David Gurney 
and John T. Pratt. 

The bark Diman sailed from New Bedford, February 8, 
1849, with Hiram Churchill and Samuel D. Barnes. 

The bark Yeoman of Plymouth, James S. Clark of Roches- 
ter, master, sailed from Plymouth, March 18, 1849, with Geo. 
Collingwood of Plymouth, mate, and the following members of 
the Pilgrim Mining Company : Nathaniel C. Covington, presi- 
dent ; Francis H. Robbins, secretary ; and Robert Swinburne, 
Nathan G. Gushing, John E. Churchill, Henry Chase, Wm. Col- 
lingwood, Wm. M. Gififord, A. O. Nelson, Franklin B. Holmes, 
Nathan Churchill, James T. Collins, Nathaniel S. Barrows, Jr., 
Henry M. Hubbard, Henry B. Holmes, Alfred R. Doten. Ellis 
Rogers, Ellis B. Barnes, George P. Fowler, Wm. Saunders, 
Richard B. Dunham, Henry M. Morton, Caleb C. Bradford, 
Silas M. Churchill, Elisha W. Kingman, Ozen Bates, Chandler 
Dunham, James T. Wadsworth, Winslow B. Barnes, Thomas 
Rogers, Edward Morton, Wm. J. Dunham, Augustus Robbins, 
Sylvanus Everson, George A. Bradford, Seth Blankenship, 
John Clark, Thomas Brown and John Ward. The Yeoman 
was built as a brig in Plymouth, in 1833, and afterwards chang- 
ed to a bark. 

The Attila, Wm. W. Baker of Plymouth, master, sailed from 
Boston in March, 1849, with the following passengers: 
Timothy Allen, Charles H. Weston, Calvin Ripley, 
Samuel Lanman, Ellis H. Morton, William Randall, 
wood, Daniel F. Goddard, Charles T. Goddard, Isaac N. Har- 



I04 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Manter, Allen Holmes, Joseph L. Weston, Ephraim Finney, 
Abner Sylvester, Samuel Doten, Thomas C. Smith, Winslow 
Bradford, Job Churchill, Samuel C. Chamberlain, Lewis Fin- 
ney, Georg-e W. Virgin, Jr., Abram C. Small, Frederick Salter, 
Alfred N. Primes, Isaac R. Atwood, W. Bradford, Josiah 
Nichols, Charles W. Swift, John Leighton, Wm. Smith, Rufus 
Holmes, James Joyce, Lucien Winsor, Henry Holmes, Henry 
Lee, Samuel Alden, Benjamin F. Winslow, Frederick Bush, 
James Carey, John L. Nash and Ambrose Harmon. The At- 
tila was one hundred and seventy days on her passage to San 
Francisco. 

The ship Mallory sailed from New York, February 28, 1849, 
with the following passengers, Thomas Rider, Richard T. Pope 
and Frederick W. Lucas. 

The ship Frances Ann sailed from Boston in April, 1849, 
having as a passenger, John Haggerty. 

The ship York sailed from Boston April i, 1849, having as a 
passenger, John A. Spooner. 

The ship New Jersey sailed from Boston in May, 1849, hav- 
ing Josiah Williams as a passenger. 

The ship Iconium of Plymouth, Eleazer Stephens Turner, 
master, sailed from Boston, June i, 1849, with Horace Jackson 
as a passenger. 

The bark Helen Augusta sailed from Boston, August 15th, 
with James Gorham Hedge as a passenger. 

The steamship Chesapeake sailed from New York, August 
9th, 1849, foJ" the Isthmus with Gideon Holbrook. 

The ship Harriet Rockwell sailed from Boston, September 
18, 1849, with Stephen P. Sears. 

The ship Cordova sailed from Boston, September 26, 1849, 
having as passengers, Seth Morton, Jr., and wife ; Mrs. Anna 
Bartlett and child, John B. Simmons, Daniel Williams, Wm. R. 
Lanman, Ichabod Harlow and George White. The ship Per- 
sian of Plymouth, Robbins, master, sailed from Baltimore in 
May, 1849, with Charles Jackson as passenger. 

The brig Sarah Abigail of Plymouth sailed from Plymouth, 
November 13, 1849, with the following passengers, Capt. Josiah 
Bartlett and wife, William Bartlett, Andrew Blanchard, Josiah 
Drew, Josiah C. Fuller, Ephraim Holmes, John B. Colling- 
wood, Daniel F. Goodard, Charles T. Goodard, Isaac N. Har- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. I05 

low, Calvin Raymond, Eleazer H. Barnes, Joseph B. Hobart, 
Caleb Battles, Nathaniel Bradford, Thomas Diman, Wm. Bow- 
en, Melzar Pierce, Clark Ellis, George Benson, Curtis Davie, 
Hira Bates, John P. Perry and Elisha Holbrook. 

Steamer Ohio sailed from New York for the Isthmus, Nov- 
ember 17, 1849, with George O. Barnes. 

Steamer name unknown, sailed from New York for the Is- 
thmus in December, 1849, with Joseph Cushman. 

The ship Samuel Appleton sailed from New York at an un- 
known date in 1849, with the following passengers, Richard 
Pope, Wm. W. Pope, and John Lawrence. 

The ship Regulus sailed from Boston in 1849, with Daniel 
Bradford, Thomas B. Bradford and Charles E. Bryant, and one 
hundred and twenty others. 

The ship Cheshire sailed from Boston in 1849, with Joseph I. 
Holmes and Adoniram Bates. 

The ship Sweden sailed from Boston in 1849, with Elisha 
Whiting as passenger. 

The brig Reindeer of Plymouth sailed from New York in 
1849, with Dr. Samuel Merritt, James M. Bradford, Wm. C. 
Bradford, CEarles Randall, Henry Raymond, Mr. Warren and 
Laurence Cleales. 

Steamer name unknown, sailed from New York for the Isth- 
mus in 1849, with A. O. Whitmore, Samuel O. Whitmore, Cy- 
rus Bartlett, Freeman Bartlett and Lewis Bartlett. By a route 
unknown, Frank Sherman sailed. 

Of the above named persons, one hundred and seventy-seven 
in all, the following thirty-five were from other towns. Ab- 
ington, James A. Young ; South Abington, John L. Nash ; Bos- 
ton, Abram C. Small, Frederick Salter, Alfred N. Primes, Jos- 
eph Nichols, Charles W. Smith and John Leighton ; Bridge- 
water, Benjamin F. Winslow ; East Bridgewater, Josiah By- 
ram, Frederick Bush, David Gurney, John T. Pratt, James 
Carey, James M. Thomas, Daniel Beckford, George E. Lugen- 
der, Adam E. Stetson, George E. Burns and Tolman French; 
Brooklyn, N. Y., John Ward ; Duxbury, Daniel Bradford, Ru- 
fus Holmes, Samuel Joyce, Lucien Winsor, Henry Lee and 
Samuel Alden ; Kingston, Thomas B. Bradford, Sylvanus 
Everson and George A. Bradford ; Plympton, Charles E. Bry- 
ant ; Pulaski, N. Y., Ambrose Harmon ; Rochester, Mass., Seth 



I06 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Blankenship, John Clark and Thomas Brown. Thus the num- 
ber going from Plymouth was one hundred and forty-two, 
which number would doubtless be increased by those of whom 
I have no record. How many of those in the list of Plymouth 
men are now living I have no means of ascertaining, but of 
those who sailed in the Yeoman only two, George Collingwood 
and Wm. J. Dunham now survive. The last of the Yeoman's 
passengers to die was Alfred R. Doten, a brother of our towns- 
men, the late Major Samuel H. and Captain Charles C. Doten, 
who married in Nevada, and never returned to his native town. 

Of Dr. Samuel Merritt, whose name is in the list of passen- 
gers on board the brig Reindeer, I have something to say. An 
account of the chief incidents in his career I had from his own 
lips. He was a native of Maine, and came to Plymouth in 
1845, ^n*^ established himself in the practice of medicine. He 
was a man six feet in height and large in proportion, frank and 
honest in speech, hearty, but rough in manner, possessing great 
will and energy, and calculated in every way to win the confi- 
dence of the people. He was a bachelor, and at first had an 
office on Main street, in the Bartlett building, where Loring's 
watchmaker's shop now is. After Union building was built 
on the corner of Middle street, he occupied two rooms on the 
lower floor at the corner, one for an office, and the other for a 
sleeping room. 

When the California fever struck Plymouth it seized the 
Doctor with great virulence. Aside from the temptations of 
gold and sudden wealth, the idea of an expedition to the Pacific 
shores appealed to his adventurous spirit, and he at once de- 
termined to follow the wave of migration. Without a family 
to consult, he began his preparations. Collecting his profes- 
sional bills, he invested his capital in the purchase of a snug and 
handy hermaphrodite brig of about one hundred and sixty tons, 
owned, I think, by Joseph Holmes of Kingston, which was then 
lying in New York. Having nearly finished loading her with 
such merchandise as according to the latest advices was bring- 
ing high prices, he found that he had about five hundred dol- 
lars unexpended. This amount, or a considerable portion of 
it, he determined to expend in tacks, so one afternoon he started 
to go to Duxbury and make the purchase at the tack factory 
carried on by Samuel Loring in that town. Before he reached 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. lO/ 

Kingston, he was overtaken by a messenger on horse back, 
summoning him to return at once, and attend a man, who, while 
engaged in painting the house of Capt. Nathaniel Russell at the 
corner of Court Square, had fallen from a ladder, and was 
thought to be seriously injured. As he had no time to spare 
to go to Duxbury after that day, he lost the opportunity of 
making a fortune in tacks, which he found on his arrival in 
San Francisco were selling at five dollars a paper. 

With such a number of passengers as he could easily accom- 
modate in the cabin, he sailed from New York in the sum- 
mer of 1849, ^r^d reached his destination in the autumn. 
On the way up the Pacific coast a stop was made at Valparaiso, 
and while there it occurred to the Doctor that it would be a 
good plan to buy a lot of potatoes to fill up the hole which the 
passengers and crew had eaten in the cargo. Starting one day 
for the shore to make the purchase, a favorable wind sprung 
up, and the Captain signalled to him to return. Thus another 
good speculation was lost, for on his arrival at San Francisco 
there was not a potato in the market. To his dismay the bot- 
tom had tumbled out of the prices of nearly every other article 
in his vessel, following for instance the price of lumber, which 
had fallen from three hundred dollars a thousand to a price 
lower than it could be bought for in Bangor. After disposing 
of his vessel and cargo, and finding himself without capital, he 
opened an office and began a practice, which he hoped to have 
permanently abandoned. Doctors were fortunately as rare as 
tacks and potatoes, and within a year his medical and surgical 
receipts amounted to forty thousand dollars, a sum equivalent, 
perhaps, to five thousand dollars in the East. 

One day a Maine Captain called at his office, who was ac- 
quainted with his family at home, and in the course of conver- 
sation, told him that he had a power of attorney to sell the brig 
which he commanded, and wished the Doctor would buy it. 
"No, I thank you," replied the Doctor, "I have had all the 
brigs I have any use for, and I think I will keep out of navi- 
gation." The captain called in occasionally afterwards, and 
the Doctor in the meantime thought, as the people of San 
Francisco suffered during the previous summer from the want 
of ice, that it might be a good speculation to go into the ice 
business in anticipation of the wants of the next summer. The 



I08 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

next time the Captain called he asked him if he had sold his 
brig, and finding that he had not, he told him that he would 
buy her if he would go in her to Puget Sound and get a load 
of ice. The Captain agreed, and with a gang of men well sup- 
plied with axes and saws, the vessel sailed. In due time the 
Captain reported himself to the Doctor, who said, "Well, Cap., 
have you got a good load of ice?" "Ice, no" said the Cap- 
tain, "not a pound ; water don't freeze in Puget Sound ; but 
I wasn't coming home with an empty hold, so I put my 
gang ashore and cut a load of piles." It so happened that 
piles were much needed on the harbor front, and the 
cargo sold at once at a big price, and the brig started off for a 
second load. By the time the second load arrived, which prov- 
ed as profitable as the first, other vessel owners had got wind 
of the business, and the Doctor said, "now, Captain, we have 
had the cream of this business, I guess we will let these other 
fellows have the skim milk. You go up and get another load 
and carry it over to Australia and buy a load of coal.'' In due 
time again the Captain returned, but without a pound of coal, 
saying, that finding he would have to wait a long time for 
his turn to load, he thought it better to take his money for the 
piles and go down to the Society Islands for a load of oranges, 
six hundred thousand of which fruit he had on board. The 
orange market at that time was completely bare, and the profits 
of the voyage were heavy. 

"Now, Captain, go up and get one more load, and carry it 
down to Callao, and sell out everything, brig and all, and we 
will close up our business, and you can go home." Thus by 
good luck, aided largely by the shrewdness of his captain. Dr. 
Merritt laid the foundations of a multi-millionaire's fortune. It 
is needless to say that he closed his office and sought favorable 
investments for his money. He bought land in Oakland 
across the bay, laid out streets, built houses, and in time be- 
came mayor of the city, whose foundation he had laid. 

I saw the Doctor on his last visit East about six years ago, 
and he then boasted of nothing so much as of his yacht, which 
he said was the finest on the Pacific. I have recently read a 
journal of Mrs. Stevenson, the mother of Robert Louis Steven- 
son, of a six months' excursion in the Pacific for the benefit of 
her son's health in the yacht Casco, belonging to Dr. Merritt. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. IO9 

Her account of an interview with the Doctor illustrates his per- 
sonalty and deportment which had more of the fortiter in re 
than the suavifer in mode. She says, "Dr. M. has just been 
here to settle the final business arrangements. He had heard 
tliat Louis had a mother, and was not at all sure of allowing an 
old woman to sail on his beloved yacht, so he insisted on seeing 
me before he left. When I came in I found a very stout man 
with a strong and humorous face, who sat still in his chair and 
took a good look at me. Then he held out his hand with the 
remark, 'You are a healthy looking woman.' He built the 
yacht, he told me, for his health, as he was getting to stout that 
some means of reduction were necessary, and going to sea had 
pulled him down sixty pounds. 'The yacht is the apple of my 
eye — you may think (to Fanny) your husband loves you, but I 
can assure you that I love my yacht a great deal better.' " 

Dr. ^lerritt died three or four years ago, and the last I heard 
of his affairs was that his will was in litigation. 



no PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XIII. 



In an earlier chapter I gave a list of the streets, squares, lanes 
and alleys, which existed in my boyhood, with the promise to 
say something concerning the changes, which they had gone 
through, and the houses and people and incidents associated 
with them. I have since taken a passing glance at Court, 
Main, Middle and North streets with the intention of referring 
to them again. In my treatment of Water street I have dwelt 
in detail on its buildings and occupants. 

The next street in order is Leyden street, the most interesting 
of all the streets, associated, as it is with the first winter of the 
Pilgrims, v.ath the Common House, the store houses, and the 
seven cottages, which with their walls of plank, their roofs of 
thatch, and windows of paper, served as hospitals for the sick 
and shelter for all. How far east and west the original street 
extended is conjectural. It is probable that on the west it ex- 
tended at least as far as the fort, which in 1622 was built near 
the top of burial hill, and that within a year or two habitations 
for single families were constructed on both sides of the street. 
The easterly end of the original street is more doubtful. It 
must be remembered that what we call ropewalk pond was a 
part of the harbor, a broad cove or bay with a wide entrance 
extending from a point on the south near the southerly corner 
of the present foundry, to a point on the north near the souther- 
ly end of the Electric Light building. It is probable that this 
cove extended so far west that it felt the flow of the tide for 
some distance above the present arch of Spring hill. It will 
therefore be seen that this bay furnished an excellent boat har- 
bor protected from the ocean blasts, and, being in close proxim- 
ity to the store houses, was undoubtedly used as a landing 
place for boats, plying to and from the Mayflower during her 
stay in the harbor. 

In view of these conditions it is probable that the original 
street extended no farther east than the narrow way which may 
still be seen on the easterly side of the house with a brick end 
opposite the Universalist church, a way which is referred to in 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. Ill 

ancient deeds, and which in my opinion led to the landing 
place, and was used by the Pilgrims in reaching or leaving their 
settlement by water. The first official laying out of Leyden 
street was made in connection with Water street in 1716, and is 
entered in the town records under date of February 16, 1715-16 
old style, or February 26, 1716 new style. It is signed by 
Benjamin Warren, John Dyer, John Watson and Abial Shurt- 
lefif, selectmen, and reads as follows : "Then laid out by us 
the subscribers, Town W^ayes (viz) as followeth A street Call- 
ed first street beginning att a stone sett into ye Ground att ye 
Corner of Ephraim Coles smiths shop, from Thence to rainge 
East 21 Degrees northerly To John Rickard's Corner bounds at 
The brow of The hill, & from thence To a stone att ye foot of 
the hill on the same Rainge The sd street is : 40 : ffoots in 
Weadth att The bounds first mentioned, and to carrey its 
width till it comes to The Northerly Corner of Capt. Dyer's 
house There being a stone sett into ye Ground & from Thence 
To Rainge East Two Degrees Northerly To a stone sett into 
the Ground att The foot of The hill a little above Ephraim 
Kempton's house being the westerly corner bounds of the way 
That leads over the Brook and from Thence Northeast: 16: 
Degrees Easterly 40 : foots to A stone sett into The Ground a 
little above John Rickard's upper Ware house, and from 
Thence To Extend Northeast : 6 : Degrees Northerly one hun- 
dred and Three foots to a stone sett into ye Ground being 16 
Degrees Southeasterly 30 foots from a stone sett into ye 
Ground at ye foot of the hill Neere or upon The Sootherly 
Corner of John Ward's land on ye westerly side of The Way 
That leads To ye New street Thence from sd stone To Extend 
Northeast 5 Degrees Northerly 29 foots To another stone sett 
in ye Ground in John W^ards land & from Thence To Extend 
North 20 Degrees Easterly To a stone sett into ye Ground att 
ye North East Corner of Mr. John Watson's cooper's shop, and 
from Thence to Extend North 7 Degrees Easterly to a stone 
and poast sett into ye Ground above Thomas Dotyes Coopers 
shop, and from Thence to Extend North 21 Degrees westerly to 
a stone and poast sett in ye Ground above Thomas Doten's 
cooper shop, and from Thence to Extend North : 25 : Degrees 
Westerly to a stone and stake sett into ye Ground Within The 
easterly corner bound of new street said stake and stones being 



112 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

West, & eleven Degrees Northerly 36 foots from the Northerly 
part of A Grat Rock yt lyeth below ye Way The sd Way from 
ye stone att ye foat of ye hill neere the Southerly Corner of 
John Ward's land is : 30 : foot in width Till it comes to ye stake 
and stones at ye Easterly Corner of ye New streete." This 
laying out is especially interesting as mentioning Plymouth 
Rock. 

A part of the smith shop of Ephraim Cole, at the comer of 
which the above laying out began, is still standing, and may be 
seen in the rear part of the express office on the corner of Main 
street. The corner of John Rickard's land was at a point on 
the stone wall opposite the middle of the alley next to the house 
of Wm. W. Brewster. Capt. John Dyer's house stood where 
the brick end house stands, and the Ephraim Kempton house 
stood about thirty or forty feet from the present street on the 
lot now occupied by Mr. Blackmer's stable. It is probable 
that the land in front of the house was kept open, and that the 
way across the brook began at the corner of the narrow way 
above mentioned just below the Dyer house, and crossing" the 
open space diagonally, passed east of the Kempton house to the 
fording place. All through mv boyhood the Kempton house 
was occupied by Mrs. Wm. Drew, who married for a second 
husband in 1833, Isaac Morton Sherman, the father of Leander 
L. Sherman, formerly the janitor of the Central Engine house. 
Its removal many years ago marked one of the changes which 
have occurred in Leyden street within my recollection. 

Until, perhaps twenty -five or thirty years ago, there was an 
ancient footway leading from Cole's Hill at a point nearly op- 
posite the south front of the house of Henry W. Barnes, next 
to the Universalist church, to Leyden street, directly opposite 
to the way to the fording place above mentioned. That foot- 
v/ay doubtless ante-dated the opening of a way between Cole's 
Hill and the water, and served to enable those who were oc- 
cupying lots on North, then New Street, to make a short cut 
over the hill to Leyden street, and thence to either the boat 
harbor landing or across the ford to the south side of the set- 
tlement. 

The John Rickard land referred to in the laying out of Ley- 
den street included all the land between LeBaron's alley on the 
west, Leyden street on the south, and the footway on the east, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. II3 

and extended to Middle street. It was occupied for one hun- 
dred and eighty-seven vears by a house built in 1639 by Robert 
Hicks, which was taken down in 1826, when the Universalist 
Church was erected on its site. Tf it were standing today, as 
it stood when I was four years of age, it would be the oldest 
house in New England, and invaluable as a relic of the Pil- 
grims. It was reached by a path or private way leading from 
Leyden street, and this way was never laid out as a public way 
until 1827, after the Universalist church was built. A picture 
of this house may be seen in Mr. Wm. S. Russell's Pilgrim Me- 
morials, where in accordance with tradition it is called the Al- 
lyne house, after Joseph Allyne, who never owned it, but mere- 
ly occupied it a short time as a tenant. It is often the case 
that a passing and perhaps trifling incident fastens on a spot 
or house a name, which has no rightful claim. I remember an 
illustration of this, which made Hon. Isaac L. Hedge very in- 
dignant. He was born in the house now occupied and owned 
by Wm. R. Drew on Leyden street, and lived there until he was 
married, the house remaining in the possession of his father 
until his death in 1840, and of his mother until her death in 
1849, and of their heirs until 1854, when it was sold. For a 
short time after 1854, before it was sold to Mr. Drew, Zaben 
Olney occupied it as a hotel. Mr. Hedge became entirely 
blind, and employed John O'Brien to take his arm and walk 
with him about the streets. One day in walking down Leyden 
street he said : "Where are we now, John ?" "Right by the 
old Olney house," John replied. Alas ! "how soon are we for- 
got." The names of the wharves are gone, and Jackson, Hedge, 
Davis, Nelson and Carver have given way to Long, Pilgrim, 
Atwood, Millar and Craig, to be christened again by succeeding 
owners and occupants. 

So far as the bounds of Leyden street are concerned, there 
has been no change in my day except the widening mentioned 
in a previous chapter at its junction with Water street. The 
changes in houses have been numerous. The Turner house 
above the old blockmaker's shop and Turner's Hall, has been 
removed, and its site occupied bv the Electric Light Co. Near- 
ly in front of it, a little below, near the westerly end of the 
blacksmith's shop of Southworth and Ichabod Shaw was a pub- 
lic well, on which the neighborhood relied for good drinking 



114 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

water. The aqueduct water delivered through wooden logs 
from questionable sources, led our people to depend largely on 
pumps or wells. These were scattered all over the town, eith- 
er public or private, and even to the private wells householders 
were permitted free access. There were public wells at the 
foot of North street, and below the bank at the foot of Middle 
street, and there was the town pump at the foot of Spring hill. 
Besides these there were the county well, a well between the old 
Lothrop house and Judge Thomas' house opposite the head of 
North street, another between John Gooding's and Dr. Bart- 
lett's houses on Main street, another in the yard of Capt. Wm. 
Rogers on North street, another in the rear of Jacob Jackson's 
house on what is now Winslow street, which was known 
as Jacob's well, and there was still another near the 
sidewalk on Sandwich street, opposite the Green, between the 
Elkanah Bartlett and Rogers houses. The wells on North 
street and below Middle street were liable to be fouled by 
drains, and their water was not used for drinking or cooking. 
Before the introduction of South Pond water, the whalemen 
and fishemien filled their water casks at a pump in the yard of 
John Tribble's paint shop on Water street. But the well in 
Leyden street was the one to which I was often sent when a 
boy with two pails and a hoop to get our daily supply. 

There was another old house near the so-called Allyne house, 
which I well remember. It stood on the bank with its front 
door on what is now Carver street, nearly opposite the easter- 
ly side of the house of Henry W. Barnes, and was reached by 
the way from Middle street. It was for many years owned 
and occupied by Wm. Holmes, the father of the three captains, 
Samuel Doten, Truman Cook and Winslow Holmes, and after 
his death, by his daughter Hannah, the wife of Laban Burt. It 
was taken down forty or fifty years ago. The Universalist 
church, and the parsonage east of it, stand on land bought of 
Barnabas Hedge in 1826, with the agreement on the part of 
Mr. Hedge that the bank opposite the church, which still be- 
longs to his heirs should never be built on. The Universalist 
Society was incorporated in 1826, and the church was dedi- 
cated December 22, in that year. The sermon on the occasion 
was preached by Rev. David Pickering of Providence. On the 
afternoon of the same day. Rev. James H. Bugbee was ordained 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. II5 

pastor, the ordaining sermon being preached by Rev. John Bis- 
bee of Hartford. Between the time of the organization of the 
church, March lo, 1822, and the ordination of Mr. Bugbee, 
Messina Ballou and Rev. Mr. Morse and others, preached to the 
society in one of the town halls. Mr. Bugbee was followed by 
Albert Case and Russell Tomlinson, who resigned in 1867, and 
was followed by A. Bosserman, Alpheus Nickerson, George L. 
Swift, A. H. Sweetzer and W. W. Hayward and others remem- 
bered by my readers. The parsonage house was at one time 
owned by Jeremiah Farris, and its sale by him to Roland Edwin 
Cotton, unaccompanied by whittling or dickering, was some- 
what characterstic of the purchaser. Mr. Farris meeting Mr. 
Cotton in the street one day was asked by him what he would 
sell his house for next to the Universalist chiu-ch. Mr. Farris 
named a price, taking care to name one high enough to allow 
for a discount, and Mr. Cotton, without taking breath, prompt- 
ly said, "Too much by half, Fll take it." 

The house next above the Universalist church, long known 
as the Marcy house, reminds me of a gentleman at one time 
its occupant, who for many years filled a large space in 
the social and official life of Plymouth, and performed else- 
where distinguished service in behalf of the state. Jacob H. 
Loud, born in Hingham, February 5, 1802, graduated at 
Brown University in 1822 and after studying law with Eben- 
ezer Gay of Hingham, was admitted to the bar at the Common 
Pleas Court in Plymouth in August, 1825, and at once began 
practice in our town. His first office was in the building at the 
corner of Spring Hill and Summer street, which was taken 
down a few years ago, from which place he moved in 1827 to 
No. 3 Town Square, then called Market Square, which after- 
wards became the post office when Bridgham Russell was ap- 
pointed postmaster in 1832. He married May 5, 1829, Eliza- 
beth Loring Jones of Hingham, and occupied for a time the 
Marcy house above mentioned. From there he changed his 
residence to the house next below Mr. Beaman's undertaking 
rooms on Middle street, but in 1832 he bought a part of the 
Lothrop lot opposite the head of North street, and built and 
occupied the house now owned and occupied by Mrs. F. B. 
Davis. After the death of Beza Hayward, Register of Probate 
of Plymouth County, which occurred June 4, 1830, he was ap- 



Il6 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

pointed to succeed him, and held office until 1852. In 1853, 
1854 and 1855, he was chosen by the legislature state treas- 
urer. From 1855 to 1866 he was president of the Old Colony 
Bank, State and National, Director of the Old Colony Rail- 
road from 1845 to 1850, and again from 1869 until his death, 
Representative in 1862, Senator in 1863 and 1864, State 
Treasurer again by a vote of the people from 1865 to 1871, 
and actuary of the New England Trust Co. of Boston until his 
retirement in 1879. ^^^ ^^7^ ^^ bought the house now owned 
and occupied by Father Buckley, and occupied it during the 
summer months until his death, which occurred in Boston, 
February 2, 1880. 

The next house built by James Bartlett, Jr., in 1832, has 
been referred to in a previous chapter. It occupies a part of 
the land given by Bridget Fuller and Samuel Fuller, the widow 
and son of Dr. Samuel Fuller of the Mayflower, in 1664, to 
the Church of Plymouth for the use of a minister. The east- 
erly boundary of the land was the middle of the alley, long 
known as LeBaron's alley. The house which up to 1832 stood 
on the site now occupied by the house built by Mr. Bartlett, 
was built by Lazarus LeBaron, and in my boyhood was occu- 
pied by Dr. Isaac LeBaron, the grandson of Lazarus. Land 
for the alley was thrown out by Lazarus LeBaron and James 
Rickard, the owner of the adjoining estate, and was laid out 
as a town way, September 7 and 10, 1832. At the time of the 
Fuller gift there was a house standing on the lot wliich was 
once owned by Rev. John Cotton, the pastor of the First 
Church, and which afterwards was displaced by the house 
built by Lazarus LeBaron. 

The next house immediately west of the James Bartlett 
house, stands on the site of a house built by Return Waite, 
which when the present house was built not many years ago, 
was removed to Seaside, and now stands a tenement house on 
the easterly side of the road on land belonging to the heirs of 
the late Barnabas Hedge. 

As I have stated the land on Leyden street extending from 
the estate of Wm. R. Drew to the centre of LeBaron's alley, 
was given in 1664 by Bridget Fuller, widow of Dr. Samuel 
Fuller of the Mayflower, and her son Samuel, to the church 
in Plymouth for the use of the minister. A parsonage was 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. II7 

built on the easterly end of the lot, which was finally sold to 
Rev. John Cotton, the pastor of the church. The house built 
by Lazarus LeBaron on the site of the parsonage, which was 
in turn succeeded by the house built in 1832 by James Bartlett, 
Jr., and now occupied by Wm. W. Brewster, and also the 
house adjoining the Bartlett house have been referred to, leav- 
ing to be considered of the original Fuller land only that part 
which is now occupied by the house of the late Harvey W. 
Weston. When Rev. Chandler Robbins was settled over the 
Plymouth Church in 1760, the Parish agreed to pay him a 
salary of one hundred pounds, to give him the privilege of 
cutting wood on the parish lot, and to build for him a parson- 
age. The Weston house is the parsonage, built at that time. 
It was occupied by Mr. Robbins until 1788, when he built a 
house on the other side of the street, which he occupied until 
his death, June 30, 1799. 

Rev. James Kendall, the successor of Mr. Robbins, was 
ordained January i, 1800, and occupied the parsonage until 
his death, which occurred March 17, 1859, and it was sold 
the next year to Mr. Weston. Of Dr. Kendall, whose pastor- 
ate extended through a period of sixty years, I cannot for- 
bear to speak, as his life was one of the most important pas- 
sages in the history of our town. It is difficult to realize that 
more than a generation has been born, and has lived to nearly 
midlde age, without a knowledge of his personality and a daily 
obsers^ation of his character and virtues. He was born in 
Sterling, Mass., in 1769, and after graduating at Harvard in 
1796, occupied the position of tutor in Latin at Harvard until 
he received an invitation to settle in Plymouth. At his ordina- 
tion the sermon was preached by Rev. Mr. French of Andover, 
and the other parts of the ceremony were performed by Rev. 
Dr. Peter Thatcher, Rev. Dr. Tappan, Rev. Mr. Shaw and 
Rev. Mr. Howland. In 1825 he received the degree of Doctor 
of Divinity from Harvard, by whose government he was es- 
teemed one of the distinguished incumbents of the ministry. 
I was in my early youth impressed by the benignant traits in 
his character and the purity of his life, as it was my fortune 
when nine years of age to be for a few weeks a member of his 
family, while my mother was passing a summer with her father 
in Nova Scotia. I remember him sitting in his study in the 



Il8 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

back west room, where if I happened to enter I was always 
greeted with a kindly smile and a cheerful word ; I remember 
him in the front east room on a chilly day sitting by a Franklin 
stove, and often in the garden, which he tended with loving 
and faithful care. There was a vein of humor in his com- 
position, which, unlike that I have often seen repressed on the 
Sabbath by ministers of the olden time, was too much the over- 
flow of a contented and joyful spirit to be concealed on a day 
to him the happiest of the week. As long as I can remember 
he always carried a cane, which had descended to him through 
James, his father, James, his grandfather, and Samuel, his 
great-grandfather; from Thomas, son of Francis, who was 
born in 1649 i^ Woburn. This cane is now owned by his 
grandson, Arthur Lord of Plymouth, and represents an own- 
ership by seven generations of the same family. 

I remember him in the old meeting house, which was taken 
down in April, 1831, officiating in black gloves with a sound- 
ing board hanging over the pulpit, which I was in constant 
fear would fall on the dear man's head. I remember well the 
church itself, a large, square building with doors on three 
sides, and a steeple surmounted by a copper rooster, the like 
of which I have never seen since the day when in April, 1831, 
while workmen pulled the steeple over, it slipped ofif the spin- 
dle and took its unaided flight to the ground. I remember the 
square pews with seats, which were turned up in prayer time, 
and let down with a slam when the prayer was over, and I 
especially remember the spokes in the pew rails which we boys 
turned in their dowels and made to squeak when we thought 
that James Morton, the sexton, sitting at the head of the pul- 
pit stairs, was either not looking or was asleep. And then 
there was the choir, with Webster Seymour leading the sing- 
ing, and I can see even now Simeon Dike, father of the late 
Mrs. Samuel Shaw, drawing his bow across the bass viol, 
which I think, with the violin and clarinet performed the in- 
strumental music. 

Of Dr. Kendall, it may be appropriately said as was said of 

another : 

"Pure was his walk, peaceful was his end ; 
We blessed his reverend length of days, 
And hailed him in the public ways, 
With veneration and with praise, 
Our father and our friend." 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. II9 

The custom of wearing black gloves in the pulpit referred to 
above, which had once been universal, was abandoned before 
the middle of the last century, and I do not feel sure that Dr. 
Kendall wore them in the new meeting house, built in 1831. 

With the estate of William Ryder Drew, some interesting 
incidents are associated beyond the memory of most of my 
readers. It was from his marriage in 1789 to his death in 
1840, the residence of Barnabas Hedge, whom I remember 
well. He was the last man in Plymouth to wear small clothes, 
in winter with boots and tassels, and in summer with buckled 
shoes. I remember only two gentlemen in Boston, Nathaniel 
Goddard, who lived on Summer street, and a gentleman at 
the south end, whose name was Wheeler, who wore small 
clothes as long as Mr. Hedge. I am glad to see some indica- 
tions of a return of a fashion too handsome and becoming 
to have been permitted to go out. Mr. Hedge was one of the 
founders of the Plymouth Bank in 1803, a Director from that 
date, and President from 1826 until his death in 1840. The 
house in question remained in the possession of the Hedge 
family until 1854, when it was sold to Zaben Olney. 

One of the most interesting features of the celebration on 
the first of August, 1853, of the anniversary of the departure 
of the Pilgrims from Delfthaven, was the visit of the New 
York Light Guard with Dodsworth's band to Plymouth, and 
their participation in the parade of the day. As the Hedge 
house was then unoccupied it was made their headquarters. 
The celebration took place on Monday, and the arrival of the 
Light Guard, Sunday afternoon, and their march through 
Court and Main and Leyden streets presented a spectacle 
which so far as known, caused no protest from the spirits of 
the Pilgrims against such an unusual observance of the Lord's 
Day. Though I was Chief Marshal of the celebration, I have 
no knowledge of the ceremonies at the headquarters, but as 
the commander had a chaplain on his staff, it is to be presumed 
that they were interesting and appropriate. Before the sale 
of the house to Mr. Drew in 1858, Mr. Olney occupied it for 
a short time as a hotel, which during the winter months when 
the Samoset was closed, as was the custom in its earlier years, 
was well patronized. 



120 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Of the occupants of the houses not yet referred to on the 
south side of Leyden street at various times within my mem- 
ory, the first to be mentioned is Robert Roberts, who built the 
house on the brow of the hill, now owned by Wm. S. Robbins. 
I\Ir. Roberts was for many years a substantial merchant, en- 
gaged in navigation and foreign trade, and was one of the 
founders of the Plymouth Bank, of whose Board of Directors 
he was a member from the time of its organization in 1803, 
to his death in 1825. His sister Mary married John Clark, 
whose daughter, Eliza Haley Clark, occupied the house in 
question many years, and died December 23, 1882. I remem- 
ber hearing when young a story about the source of a part of 
Mr. Roberts's wealth which may have been, like so many stor- 
ies about others, without any foundation in fact. The story was 
that one of his vessels, either under command of himself or of 
another, was in a French port at one period of the French 
revolution and had taken on board the wealth of some refu- 
gees who had planned to escape from the persecution of the 
revolutionists, and sail for America, but that they were ar- 
rested and guillotined, and that their property never claimed 
by its owners, fell into the possession of Capt. Roberts and 
other owners of his vessel. 

The only change within my recollection in the occupation 
of the next house, which has been for many years in the pos- 
session and occupancy of Salisbury Jackson, and his children 
and grandchildren, was the conversion in 1835 of one of the 
rooms on the street floor by Mr. Jackson into a store, which he 
opened in that year after having occupied for some years a 
store in the Witherill building on the corner of Main street 
and Town Square. In later years the store was abandoned, 
and the building restored to its original condition. I associate 
an old lady by the name of Johnson, who I think about 1830 
occupied one or two rooms in the Jackson house, with a bon- 
net called the Navarino bonnet, which had a great run for a 
time among females everywhere, old and young. I wonder if 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 121 

any of my readers remember as I do the Navarino bomiet? 
The battle of Navarino, which secured Greek independence, 
vvas fought October 20, 1827, in which the Turkish and Egyp- 
tian navies were destroyed by the combined fleets of England, 
Russia and France, and so great an interest was felt at that 
time in Greek affairs that some ingenious originator of fashion 
invented a bonnet made of paper resemblng cloth, and of the 
prevailing shape, with a crown a little turned up behind, and 
a front, which entirely concealed the face and chin from a side 
view, to which in order to attract attention and sales he gave 
the name of the battle. Every woman bought one, and every 
woman wore one, the streets were full of them, and in the 
meeting houses they were in their glory. But alas, they were 
fair weather bonnets, and like the feathers of a rooster, wore 
a most bedraggled and flopping appearance when exposed to 
the rain. The fashion was short lived, and went out like that 
of hoop skirts, as rapidly as it came in, while the world still 
wonders what became of them. If any one of my readers has 
one of these relics of bygone days, I would be glad to have it 
to help my memory in recalling the appearance of my sisters, 
when one day they reached home in a drenching rain. 

Of Capt. James Bartlett, the occupant of the next house 
west of the Jackson house from 1801 to his death in 1840, 
and of Leander Lovell, his son-in-law, the next occupant, by 
whose heirs it was sold in 1880, to recent owners, mention has 
been made in previous chapters. 

The site of the next house, owned and occupied by Mr. Wm. 
H. H. Weston, is an especially interesting one. For its early 
history, which it is unnecessary to repeat, my readers are re- 
ferred to page 164 of the first part of "Ancient Landmarks of 
Plymouth." On that spot James Cole kept an ordinary, for 
which he was licensed in 1645. Ji-^clge Samuel Sewall refers 
to it in his diary under date of March 8, 1698, in which occurs 
the following entry: "Got to Plymouth about noon, I lodge 
at Cole's ; the house was built by Governor Winslow, and is 
the oldest in Plymouth." The present house was built in 1807 
by General Nathaniel Goodwin, and was occupied by him 
until his death, March 8, 1819. In 1827 it was sold by his 
heirs to Thomas Russell, who made it his residence until his 
death, September 25, 1854. 



122 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

General Goodwin was born in Plymouth in 1749, and while 
eng-aged many years in iron manufactures, was more widely 
known as an officer in the militia and military superintendent 
for Plymouth county during the revolution. In the latter ca- 
pacity he kept a record of enlistments in many of the towns 
in the county, including Plymouth and Kingston, which is 
more complete than the lists in the archives of the Common- 
wealth. This record was given to me some years ago by his 
grandson, the late Captain Nathaniel Goodwin, and has been 
given by me to the Pilgrim Society. After the battle of Sara- 
toga, fought on the 7th of October, 1777, General Burgoyne 
and his army taken prisoners of war by General Gates, were 
marched to Cambridge and placed in barracks on Winter and 
Prospect hills, while Burgoyne himself was quartered in the 
Borland house in that town. General Goodwin was detailed 
under General Heath to command the guard having charge 
of the prisoners, and the following Plymouth men were en- 
listed to form a part of the guard : 
Nathaniel Barnes Eleazer Holmes, Jr. 

Wm. Bartlett Samuel Holmes 

Wm. Blakeley Daniel Howland 

Wm. Cassady Edward Morton 

George Churchill Josiah Morton 

Israel Clark Levi Paty 

James Collins Ebenezer Rider, Jr. 

Thomas Dogget Benoni Shaw 

Lemuel Doten Nathaniel Torrey 

Stephen Doten Benjamin Weston 

Thomas Ellis John Witherhead 

John Harlow, Jr. 

General Goodwin and General Burgoyne became friends, 
and as a memento of their friendship, Burgoyne gave to Gen- 
eral Goodwin his rapier, which was also given to me by his 
grandson, and is now a loan from me in the cabinet of the 
Pilgrim Society. General Goodwin was like Mr. Roberts and 
Mr. Hedge, an original subscriber to stock in the Plymouth 
Bank in 1803, and was a Director from the date of its organi- 
zation until his death in 1819. 

General Goodwin, I have always heard, was a man of fine 
figure and bearing, and vain of his appearance, especially when 
in uniform. His grandson, Capt. Nathaniel Goodwin, told me 
the following story about him and his negro servant Pompey, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. I23 

a freed slave, which ilhistrates the familiarity of the slaves 
with their old masters and the characteristic vanity of the Gen- 
eral. One muster day morning the General, wearing his regi- 
mentals, said: "Pompey, how do I look?" "You look like a 
lion, massa." "Lion, Pompey; you never saw a lion." "Yes I 
have, massa ; massa Davis hab got one." "That isn't a lion, 
you fool, that is a jackass." "I don't care, massa, you look 
just like dat er animal." 

Thomas Russell, who bought the above mentioned Goodwin 
house in 1827, and occupied it until his death, was a brother 
of Captain John Russell, mentioned in a previous chapter as 
an enterprising ship owner, and married in 1814 Mary Ann, 
daughter of William Goodwin, and their children were Eliza- 
beth, born in 181 5, Lydia^ Gushing, 1817, who married Hon. 
Wm. Whiting; Mary, who married Benjamin Marston Wat- 
son of Plymouth; William Goodwin, 1821, Thomas, 1825, and 
Jane Frances, who married Abraham Firth of Boston. Of 
these children Mrs. Watson alone survives. Mr. Russell was 
for many years the treasurer and manager of the Cotton Mill 
at Eel River, established in 1812. After his retirement from 
that position, he was often the trusted adviser in the settle- 
ment of estates, and in 1837 Mr. Barnabas Hedge, supposing 
himself seriously involved in the liabilities of the Tremont 
Iron Works in Wareham, in which he was largely interested, 
made an assignment to his son-in-law, Charles H. Warren 
and Mr. Russell for the security of his indebtedness. Mr. 
Hedge was, however, under the management of his assignees 
extricated from his embarrassments, and was left with a hand- 
some fortune. In accordance with the provisions of law then 
in force, Mr. Russell was chosen by the legislature in 1842 
Treasurer and Receiver General of the Commonwealth, and 
again in 1844. It is worthy of mention that within eighty-five 
years from the adoption of the constitution in 1780 to 1865 
three citizens of Plymouth should have served as treasurer 
during a period of fourteen years. These were Thomas Da- 
vis, from 1792 to 1797, Thomas Russell in 1842 and 1844, and 
Jacob H. Loud in 1853 and 1854, and from 1866 to 187 1. If 
the term of Hon. Nahum Mitchell of East Bridgew^ater of five 
years from 1822 to 1827 be added, the county of Plymouth 
was represented in the treasurer's office more than a quarter 
of the time. 



124 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

The various occupants of the site on which the Baptist 
church stands, are deserving of notice. The house, taken 
down when the church v/as erected in 1865, was built in 1703 
by Dr. Francis LeBaron, who was a passenger in a French 
vessel wrecked on Cape Cod in 1694, and settled in Plymouth. 
A family tradition says that he was a Roman Catholic, and 
was buried with a cross on his breast, but Mrs. James Hum- 
phrey of New York told me that her grandmother, Elizabeth 
wife of Ammi Ruhama Robbins of Norfolk, Conn., who was 
a granddaughter of Dr. LeBaron, told her that the Doctor was 
a Huguenot. It is a singular fact that one hundred years later 
in 1794 or 1795, another French vessel was wrecked on Cape 
Cod, on which there was a passenger named LeBaron, whose 
descendants are living in one or more of the southern states. 
From Francis LeBaron the house descended to his son, Dr. 
Lazarus LeBaron, who sold it in 1765 to Nathaniel Goodwin, 
the husband of his daughter, Lydia. From Nathaniel Good- 
win it descended to his son, General Nathaniel Goodwin, 
who occupied it until, in 1807, he built and occupied 
the W. H. H. Weston house. The General leased 
the house to John Bartlett and William White, who 
occupied it as a tavern. I have no knowledge as to who 
John Bartlett was, but William \\'hite came from New Bed- 
ford, having married Fanny Gibbs of Wareham, and was the 
father of Arabella White, who married the late Capt. Nathaniel 
Goodwin. I have no means of knowing precisely when Bart- 
lett and White terminated their lease, but it is certain that in 
October, 1818, John H. Bradford kept a tavern in the house, 
as on the 9th of that month George Cooper, clerk of the Stan- 
dish Guards, notified the members of the company to meet on 
the 2 1 St at the house of John H. Bradford. At first the tavern 
was called as above, "the house of John H. Bradford," but later 
it came to be called Bradford's Tavern, and was so called until 
it was sold in 1857. It was a stately mansion. Its broad 
front, its spacious doorway, its broad hall, and its large wains- 
cotted rooms, told the story of its ancient grandeur. There 
the "daughters of Lazarus" reigned as queens, and the fashion 
of the town engaged in the minuet of the olden time. 

John Howland Bradford, or Uncle Johnny, as he was afifec- 
tionately called, the landlord during a period of forty years, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. I25 

perhaps more widely known than any landlord of his time, 
was born in Plymouth, July 14, 1780, and never married. He 
was an interesting character, such as only an old New England 
town could produce, with only an ordinary public school edu- 
cation, but under the moral influences of an enlightened Chris- 
tian home, he grew into manhood with habits of truth, indus- 
tr^^ kindness of heart, and correct living, which no wordly 
influences could weaken. No better man has within my ob- 
servation ever lived. His sphere of life was narrow, but he 
filled it full. Let every man do this and the machinery of 
social life will run without friction or jar. I never knew of 
his attendance at any church, and I do not believe that any 
theological question ever presented itself to his mind. His 
character, however, was such as Christianity seeks to form, 
and as long as it is formed, it is not worth while to ask whether 
it be the result of the lessons of Christianity acting directly 
on the man, or on those under whose ministrations his habits 
have been formed. When he died, December 7, 1863, we may 
be sure that the promise made to the pure in heart was kept 
that "they shall see God." 

The hostess of Bradford's Tavern was Mrs. Abigail (Leon- 
ard) Hollis, wife of Henry Hollis and daughter of 
Thomas Leonard, of Plymouth. Mr. Hollis came from 
Weymouth and married his wife in 1819. He died 
March 9, 1838, and his widow died September 27, 1859. 
Two of their children were John Henry, a merchant in 
New York at the time of his death, and our late townsman, 
William T. Hollis. I have no recollection of Mr. Hollis, or 
his occupation, but I have no doubt that he was connected 
in some capacity with the tavern. His wife was a strong 
minded, vigorous woman, and was the mainstay in everything 
connected with the domestic concerns of the house. Her old- 
est son, John Henry, was my schoolmate in the High school, 
and I can testify to the care she bestowed on his moral and 
intellectual instruction. The inscription on her gravestone : 

"Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die," 
was not only intended as the statement of a general truth, 
but also as a recognition of its truth as specially applicable to 
her. 

Among the guests at Bradford's Tavern the memory of 



126 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

some lingers in my mind. \\'hen I was quite young, perhaps 
about the year 1830, a stranger arrived at the tavern on the 
evening stage from Boston, who was destined to keep the 
tongue of gossip wagging for some time. He was somewhat 
portly, but moderate in height, and dressed in hnen and broad- 
cloth of immaculate neatness and fashionable in style. His 
name was Surrey, but the register contained no place of resi- 
dence. Occasional visitors for a day or two were not uncom- 
mon, and excited no remark, but when this stranger remained 
for a week or more with neither acquaintance nor business to 
protract his stay, the gossips began to wonder who he was, 
whence he came, to what nationality he belonged, and what the 
purpose of his visit could be. In suitable weather he took his 
morning and evening walk about the town, making no visits, 
entering no store or church or public meeting, and asking no 
questions concerning the town or people. From his dignified 
bearing he won the name of Lord Surrey, and was never re- 
ferred to by any other name. He made occasional excursions 
to Boston, where apparently he received funds, and bought 
new clothes. He paid his board promptly, and his habits and 
demeanor were beyond criticism. At the end of a year he left 
town and gossips were left to wonder where he had gone, 
whether he was a refugee from abroad, or whether he was 
merely an eccentric man who was floating about the world 
at the dictate of a capricious will. 

I remember another visitor at the tavern quite as mysteri- 
ous, a man of gentlemanly appearance, who could not speak a 
word of English, and who remained six months without dis- 
closing his nationality, and went as he came, a stranger in a 
strange land. Mr. Salisbury Jackson, whose humor led him to 
speak of every day incidents in a manner to amuse his hearers, 
in describing a visit to the unknown, said that he tried him in 
French, but found that he was not a Frenchman. He then 
tried him in Spanish, but he was not a Spaniard. He then 
tried him in German, but he was not a German. He then, 
after failing to make him out an Italian, tried him in the ori- 
ginal tongue and fixed him. No efiforts of available linguists 
could fix his nationality more successfully than the humor of 
Mr. Jackson, and he went as he came, and was for a long time 
remembered as the mysterious stranger. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 12/ 

In 1857 the tavern house was sold to Wm. Churchill, who 
sold it to Wm. Finney, who resold it to Mr. Churchill, from 
whom it was bought by the Baptist Society in 1862. From 
1857 to the date of his death, December 7, 1863, Mr. Bradford 
boarded with Jacob Rowland, who occupied chambers in the 
Witherell building- on the corner of Main street and Town 
Square. 

I have spoken of Pompey, a colored servant, once a 
slave of General Nathaniel Goodwin, with whom he 
lived in the old tavern house. He died within my rec- 
ollection, and I think he was the last of the old slaves living 
in Plymouth. I remember his living with Nathaniel Good- 
win, Cashier of the Plymouth Bank, who lived in what was 
called the bank house, which stood on Court street, where the 
Russell building now stands. Prince, whom I also remember, 
v/as once a slave of Dr. Wm. Thomas, and lived until his 
death, after the death of Dr. Thomas, with his son, Judge 
Joshua Thomas, who died January 10, 1821, and afterwards 
with his widow, in the house now occupied as an inn, called 
the Plymouth Tavern. There is no reason to doubt that the 
institution of slavery was recognized, and as firmly upheld in 
Plymouth as in other considerable towns in the northern 
states. So far as the slave trade was concerned, though it 
was abolished by an act of Congress in i8o8, there is reason to 
believe that in the town of Bristol, R. I., within the limits of 
the original Plymouth Colony, until by a Royal Commission 
in 1 75 1, that town was taken from Massachusets and added 
to Rhode Island, it was pursued until 1820. In that year Con- 
gress declared the trade to be piracy, and Captain Nathaniel 
Gordon, engaged in the trade, was in November, 1861, convict- 
ed and executed in New York. It was the generally entertain- 
ed belief that one or more citizens of Bristol were engaged in 
the trade, which led Mr. Webster to make the following de- 
nunciatory reference to the trade in his memorable oration 
delivered in Plymouth on the celebration in 1820 of the anni- 
versary of the Landing of the Pilgrims. "It is not fit that the 
land of the Pilgrims should bear the shame longer. I hear 
the sound of the hammer; I see the smoke of the furnace where 
manacles and fetters are still forged for human limbs. I see 
the visages of those who by stealth and midnight labor in this 



128 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

work of hell foul and dark, as may become the artificers of 
such instruments of misery and tortures. Let that spot be 
purified, or let it cease to be of New England. Let it be puri- 
fied or let it be set aside from the Christian world; let it be 
put out of the circle of human sympathies and human regards, 
and let civilized man henceforth have no communion with it." 

Slavery existed in Massachusetts until the adoption of its 
constitution on the 15th of June, 1780. Article first of the 
"declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Common- 
wealth" declared as follows : "All men are born free and 
equal, and have certain natural, essential and unalienable 
rights, among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying 
and defending their lives and liberties ; that of acquiring, pos- 
sessing and protecting property ; in fine, that of seeking and 
obtaining their safety and happiness." 

Whatever may have been the intent of the framers of the 
constitution in constructing the above article, the Supreme 
Court of Massachusetts decided as early as 1781 in the case 
of Walker vs. Jennison that slavery was abolished in Massa- 
chusetts by the declaration of rights, and that decision has 
been repeatedly confirmed by later ones. But singularly 
enough, notwithstanding these decisions a slave was sold by 
auction in Cambridge as late as 1793. Precisely how many 
slaves there were in Plymouth when the constitution was 
adopted, I have no means of knowing, but it is certain that, as 
elsewhere at the North where soil and climate and public 
opinion were unfavorable, the number had been for some years 
gradually lessening. The growth of slavery at the south was 
however astonishing. It has been estimated that at various 
times forty million slaves were taken from the shores of 
Africa, and at the first census in 1790, there were 697,897 
slaves in the United States. This number increased to 893,- 
041 in 1800, to 1,191,369 in 1810, to 1,538,022 in 1820, to 2,- 
009,043 in 1830, to 2,487,455 in 1840, to 3,204,313 in 1850, 
and to 3,953,760 in i860. 

I have seen an assessor's record for the year 1740, which 
states that in that year there were thirty-two slaves in Plym- 
outh between the ages of twelve and fifty, from which it may 
be fair to assume that there were at least fifty of all ages. 
The following were the owners in the above year: 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. , I29 

Robert Brown, one; Samuel Bartlett, one; Timothy Trent, 
one ; James Hovey, one ; Hannah Jackson, one ; Samuel Kemp- 
ton, one ; Isaac Lothrop, four ; Thomas Jackson, two ; Lazarus 
LeBaron, two; John Murdock, one; Thomas Murdock, one; 
Job Morton, one; Ebenezer Spooner, one; Haviland Torrey, 
one; David Turner, one; James Warren, one; John Watson, 
one; James Warren, Jr., one; Rebecca Witherell, one; Seth 
Barnes, one ; John Bartlett, one ; Stephen Churchill, one ; Wm. 
Clark, one; Nathaniel Foster, two; Sarah Little, one; Joseph 
Bartlett, one. 

The following slaves are mentioned in the town records at 
various dates : 

Caesar, Hester, Eunice, Philip and Esther, slaves of Ed- 
ward Winslow in 1768; Cato and Jesse, slaves of John Foster 
in 1731 ; Britain, slave of John Winslow in 1762; Cuffee, slave 
of Isaac Lothrop in 1768; Nanny, slave of Samuel Bartlett in 
1738; Hannah, slave of James Hovey in 1762; Cuffee, slave 
of George Watson in 1768; Dick, slave of Nathaniel Thomas 
in 1731 ; Phebe, slave of Haviland Torrey in 1731 ; Dolphin, 
slave of Nathaniel Thomas in 1731 ; Flora, slave of Priscilla 
Watson in 1731 ; Eseck. slave of George Watson in 1757; 
Rose, slave of William Clark in 1757; Prince, slave of Wm. 
Thomas in 1771 ; Plymouth, slave of Thomas Davis in 1753; 
Nannie, slave of Deacon Foster in 1741 ; Jane, slave of Thomas 
Jackson in 1760; Jack, slave of Thomas Holmes in 1739; 
Patience, slave of Barnabas Churchill in 1739; Pero and Han- 
nah, slaves of John Murdock in 1756; Quamony, slave of 
Josiah Cotton in 1732; Kate, slave of John Murdock in 1732; 
Quash, slave of Lazarus LeBaron in 1756; Phillis, slave of 
Theophilus Cotton in 1751 ; Silas, slave of Daniel Diman in 
1772; Venus, slave of Elizabeth Edwards in 1772; Pompey, 
slave of Nathaniel Goodwin in 1775; Caesar, slave of Joshua 
Thomas in 1779; Venus, slave of Elizabeth Stephens in 1772; 
Ouba, slave of Barnabas Hedge in 1775 ; Plato, slave of un- 
known in 1779; Ebed Melick, slave of Madame Thatcher of 
Middleboro. 

Besides Pompey and Prince, Quamony Quash, an old slave, 
commonly called Quam, lived within my remembrance, and 
died April 18, 1833. Most of the slaves emancipated by the 
constitution, accepted their freedom, and so far as I know, only 



130 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Pompey and Prince continued as servants of their old masters. 
A few of them squatted on land belonging to the town of 
Plymouth, which on that account took the name of New 
uuinea. Among these were Quamony, Prince, Plato and 
Cato, but it is probable that Prince divided his time between 
his home at New Guinea and the house of his old master, v/here 
I remember him a faithful servant of the widow of Judge 
Joshua Thomas, 

It is not improbable that Plymouth v/as associated with the 
first claim made on a citizen of Massachusetts for the restora- 
tion of a slave to his master. Information concerning it I 
found among my grandfather's papers. In 1808 the brig 
Thomas, Solomon Davie master, at some port in Delaware, re- 
ceived on board a slave who had deserted from his master, 
David M. Mcllvaine, and until 1812 remained in my grand- 
father's service, receiving wages as a hired man. In 1812 
Mr. Mcllvaine found the slave on board the brig in Baltimore, 
and a claim for his restoration being made, he was given up. 
In the meantime the slave who called himself George Thom- 
son, bought a small house on the brow of Cole's Hill, and in a 
settlement of a suit to recover wages, which my grandfather 
had paid to Thomson, Mr. Mcllvaine, in consideration of the 
money paid, conveyed to my grandfather the house, and the 
following articles of personal property, which were in the 
keeping of a colored woman, named Violet Phillips, and were 
the property of Thompson — a blue cloth coat, fine; a black 
cloth coat, fine ; one pair of ribbed velvet pantaloons ; one black 
bombazet trousers ; one v/hite shirt ; one white waistcoat ; one 
black bombazet waistcoat; one black silk waistcoat; three yel- 
law marseilles waistcoats ; one pair white cotton stockings ; two 
checked shirts ; one new fur hat ; one chest, and one trunk in 
which were the title papers to his house, and one silver watch. 

Of many stories about these old slaves I have room for only 
one. When the use of biers, instead of hearses was universal, 
occasionally two of these freedmen would be hired as bearers! 
On one occasion, when Quamony and Plato were emploved, 
they had heard that gloves were given to the bearers, and just 
as the procession was about to start, Quamony said to Plato, 
"Hab you hab'm glub?" "No," said Plato, "I no hab'm no 
glub." ''Nor I hab'm glub nudder," said Quamony, "We no 
bare widout glub. let the man in the box carrv hisself." 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. I3I 



CHAPTER XV. 

The house adjoining the Baptist church, now occupied by 
the Custom House, recalls next to the house on Cole's Hill, in 
which I was born, the pleasantest associations, and the dearest 
memories. In that building my grandfather William Davis, 
born July 15, 1758, lived from 1781, the year of his marriage, 
until January 5, 1826, the date of his death. He was the son 
of Thos. Davis, and one of a family of one daughter and six 
sons, Sarah, Thomas, William, John, Samuel, Isaac P. and 
Wendell. Sarah, born June 29, 1754, married LeBaron Brad- 
ford of Bristol, son of William Bradford, United States sena- 
tor from the state of Rliode Island. 

Thomas Davis, born June 26, 1756, was a representative from 
Plymouth, senator from Plymouth County, senator from Suf- 
folk County, treasurer and receiver general of the Common- 
wealth from 1792 to 1797, and president of the Boston Marine 
Insurance Company from 1799 until his death, January 21, 
1805. I have on my walls the barometer which hung in the 
insurance office at the time of his death. 

John Davis, born in Plymouth, January 25, 1761, graduated 
at Harvard in 1781, and entered the legal profession. He was 
the youngest member of the convention on the adoption of the 
state constitution, and in 1796 was appointed by Washington 
comptroller of the United States Treasury. In 1801 he was 
appointed by John Adams, Judge of the United States Court 
for the district of Massachusetts, and continued on the bench 
forty years. He was treasurer of Harvard College from 1810 
to 1827, a Fellow of Harvard from 1803 to 1810, and Presi- 
dent of the Massachusetts Historical Society from 1818 to 
1843. H^ ^^^^ ^^ Boston, January 14, 1847. 

Samuel Davis, born March 5, 1765, was a well known anti- 
quarian, a learned linguist, and a recognized authority on ques- 
tions relating to Indian dialects. He was a member of the 
Massachusetts Historical Society, recipient of an honorary de- 
gree from Harvard in 181 9, and died in Plymouth, July 10, 



132 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

1829. He is worthily commemorated by the following inscrip- 
tion on his gravestone on Burial hill : 

"From life on earth our pensive friend retires , 

His dust commingling with the Pilgrim sires; 

In thoughtful walks their every path he traced, 

Their toils, their tombs his faithful page embraced, 

Peaceful and pure and innocent as they, 

With them to rise to everlasting day." 

Isaac P. Davis, born October 7, 1771, was for many years an 
extensive manufacturer in Boston, owning a rope walk on the 
mill dam, now Beacon street, and perhaps was more widely 
known socially in Boston than any man of his time. He was 
a friend of artists, and a patron of art, whose judgment and 
taste were freely consulted by purchasers. Stuart, the portrait 
painter, was his intimate friend, and the horse in the Faneuil 
Hall picture of Washington, is a portrait of a horse owned by 
Mr. Davis. After the completion of the picture he presented 
the study from which it was painted, to Mr. Davis, a picture 
about 20 by 24 inches, which after the death of Mrs. Davis was 
sold by Josiah Quincy, and myself, her executors, to Ignatius 
Sargent, for three thousand dollars. The friendship between 
Mr. Davis and Mr. Webster may be judged by the following 
affectionate dedication to him of the second volume of Mr. 
Webster's works, published in 185 1. 

My dear Sir: 

"A warm, private friendship has existed between us for more 
than half our lives interrupted by no untoward occurrence, and 
never for a minute cooling into indifference. Of this friend- 
ship, the source of so much happiness to me, I wish to leave, if 
not an enduring memorial, at least an affectionate and grateful 
acknowledgment. I dedicate this volume of my speeches to 
you. Daniel Webster."" 

Wendell Davis, the youngest brother of my grandfather, born 
February 13, 1776, graduated at Harvard in 1796, and was 
clerk of the Massachusetts senate from 1802 to 1805. He 
studied law with his brother John, and settled in Sandwich. 
He served by appointment of the Governor as sheriff of Barn- 
stable county, and died, Dec. 30, 1830. He was the father of 
Hon. George T. Davis of Greenfield, whom Thackery declared 
the most brilliant conversationalist he had ever met. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. I33 

My grandfather, William Davis, born July 15, 1758, was 
trained in the business of his father, Thomas Davis, who was 
largely engaged in navigation and foreign trade, and with 
whom he became associated. After the death of his father, 
March 7, 1785, he continued the business of the firm of Thomas 
and William Davis with marked success until his death. Not- 
withstanding the depressing effects of the embargo, and the 
war of 1812, from which many suffered, I have been unable to 
discover in his files of business letters any indications of 
serious injury to his vessels or his trade. My father, William 
Davis, who died March 22, 1824, at the age of forty-one, was 
for some years associated with his father in business. My 
grandfather was representative and member of the executive 
council, and twenty-five years a member of the board of se- 
lectmen. It is perhaps worthy of mention that the services of 
members of four generations of my family as selectmen, cover 
a period of fifty-two years. Mr. Davis was also one of the 
founders of the Plymouth Bank, and its President from 1805 
until his death, and one of the founders of the Pilgrim So- 
ciety, and its first Vice-president. 

Before leaving my grandfather's family I trust that I may 
be excused for referring to his daughter Betsey, or Elizabeth, 
as she was called late in life. She was born in the house un- 
der discussion, October 28, 1803, and until thirteen years of 
age attended private schools in Plymotith. After that time 
for three years, until she was sixteen, she attended the school 
of Miss Elizabeth Gushing, in the family of Deacon Wm. Gush- 
ing of Hingham. Miss Gushing's school was probably not 
surpassed by any ladies' school in the country, and there a 
solid foundation was laid, which served my aunt so well as 
the wife of Mr. Bancroft, during his services as minister at 
London and Berlin. History, geography and public affairs 
were her special subjects of study, and while in London 
it was said by Englishmen, that she was so familiar with Eng- 
lish politics as to be able to discuss them, and hold her own 
with the leading statesmen of the Kingdom. To show the ex- 
tent of her early reading, when a girl, or a young woman, she 
listened one Sunday to a sermon preached in the Plymouth pul- 
pit by a minister of a Plymouth Gounty town exchanging with 
Dr. Kendall, which was much admired. It seemed to her that 



134 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

she had read it somewhere, and on going home, succeeded in 
finding it in a volume of sermons by Rev. Newcome Cappe, an 
EngHsh cler^Tman, who became pastor of a dissenting congre- 
gation in York and served from 1756 to near the end of the 
centur}'. After looking the sermon over and verifying her 
suspicions of a wholesale plagiarism, she laid the book down 
on the centre table with the title in plain sight. In the even- 
ing the clergyman called at the house, and during his visit, 
much to the embarrassment of the hostess, and doubtless to his 
own bewilderment, sat with the book at his elbow, and the 
title staring him in the face. I prefer not to mention his name, 
but my older readers may identify him when I say that in- 
variably when he preached in Plymouth, as he often did, he se- 
lected for one of his hymns that from Peale Dabney's collec- 
tion, with the familiar verse : 

"Mark the soft falling snow, 

And the diffusive rain ; 
To heaven from whence it fell, 
It turns not back again; 
But waters earth through every pore, 
And calls forth all her secret store." 
She married in 1825, Alexander Bliss, law partner of Daniel 
Webster, who died July 15, 1827, and in 1838, married George 
Bancroft, the historian, who found in her efficient aid in the 
performance of his duties as secretary of the Navy, under 
President Polk, as minister to England from 1846 to 1849, and 
later as minister to Berlin. 

It was my fortune to be in London in the month of Feb- 
ruary, 1847, during her residence there, and to receive from 
her and Mr. Bancroft many acts of kindness. It was during 
the Irish famine, and a benefit was planned to be held at Drury 
Lane Theatre, to add to the Irish charitable fund. There was 
no public sale of tickets, but a committee took the house from 
parquette to ceiling, and sent tickets for whole boxes to such 
members of the nobility as were available, and to the diplo- 
matic corps, with prices affixed, which of course were taken 
regardless of cost in the nature of subscriptions, and tickets for 
the parquette to such single persons as they thought expedient. 
Mr. Bancroft's box containing four chairs, was occupied by 
himself and Mrs. Bancroft. Henr}' H. Milman, then distin- 
guished as an historian, poet and dramatic writer, and Profes- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 1 35 

sor of poetry at Oxford, but later known as Dean of St. Paul's, 
and myself. In the dramatic world Mr. Milman was known 
as the author of the tragedy of Fazio, which I have seen played 
at the old Tremont theatre by Forrest and the elder Booth. 
The royal box, directly opposite in the same row, was occupied 
by Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and the Duke of Cambridge. 
In the box next to the royal box were the Duke of Welling- 
ton and the Marchioness of Douro, while others whom I re- 
member in other boxes were the Duke of Devonshire, the Earl 
of Westminster, the Duke of Norfolk, Hon. Mrs. Norton, Sir 
Robert Peel, Lord John Russell, Lord Lyndhurst, IMacaulay, 
Hume, and Lord George Bentinck. I was undoubtedly the 
only American in the house, and probably the only one in the 
audience whom the society reporter of the Times could not call 
by name. 

At a dinner at Mr. Bancroft's, I had an opportunity of meet- 
ing Thomas Carlyle, and I was astonished at his bitter denun- 
ciation of men and events, and his almost brutal speech. While 
the Irish question was under discussion, Duncan C. Pell of 
New York, one of the guests, asked him what he would do wnth 
the Irish, and bringing his hand down roughly on the table 
he growled out, "I would shoot every mother's son of them." 
I could not help contrasting his coarseness with the sweet and 
gentle spirit of Ralph Waldo Emerson, his friend on our side 
of the ocean. 

Through the kindness of Mr. Bancroft I had an opportunity 
of seeing most of the above named statesmen in their seats in 
Parliament during a discussion on the corn laws, with the ad- 
dition of Daniel O'Connell, who upon the whole, I think, was 
the most striking looking man I saw in England. During the 
discussion to which I have referred. Lord George Bentinck, 
who was well known for his fondness for horses, and the race 
course, made a speech which placed him on the side of the pro- 
tectionists against Sir Robert Peel, whom he had before ardent- 
ly supported. Sir Robert in a reply full of sharp invective 
said, "It is far from my intention to charge the honorable mem- 
ber with inconsistency, when he is universally known as a man 
of stable mind." 

After the death of my grandfather in 1826 my grandmother 
continued to occupy the family mansion until 1830, when she 



136 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

removed to Boston, where she died, April i, 1847. For a year 
or more after her departure, the house was occupied by her 
son, Nathaniel IMorton Davis, while his house on Court street, 
now owned by the Old Colony Club, was undergoing alterations 
and repairs. In 1832 it was sold to Wm. Morton Jackson, 
who moved into it from his former residence in North street 
on the corner of Rope Walk lane, where the house of Isaac M. 
Jackson now stands. Mr. Jackson fitted the front west room 
for a store, and removed his business in dry goods from the 
building on the corner of Summer street and Spring Hill, 
which was taken down about 1890. In 185 1 Mr. Jackson, who 
had been collector of the port from 1845 to 1849, sold the estate 
to Mrs. Sarah Plympton, and removed to Boston, where he 
engaged in the wholesale grocery business on State street, 
nearly opposite Merchants' Row. During its ownership by 
Mrs. Plympton, it was occupied as a boarding house at various 
times by Ephraim Spooner, Mrs. Wm. H. Spear and Airs. Eph- 
raim T. Paty, and was sold in 1878 by her executor to George 
F. Weston, Charles O. Churchill and Samuel Harlow, with 
whose ownership and the erection of the Rink in 1884 my read- 
ers are familiar. 

As long ago as I can remember, the next estate on the west, 
on which the store of W. H. H. Weston stands, was occupied 
by a building in the lower story of which Zaben Olney and Jas. 
E. Leonard kept a flour and grain store, established by them in 
1827, and in the upper story of which the Custom House was 
located. In 183 1 Harrison Gray Otis Ellis, succeeded Olney 
and Leonard in the store, but in 1832 gave up business, and the 
building was sold to the Old Colony Bank, then recently or- 
ganized. The Custom House continued to occupy the second 
story until 1845, when Gustavus Gilbert occupied it for a time 
as a law office. In 1846 Steward and Alderman, who had 
bought the building of the Bank in 1842, sold it to Wm. Rider 
Drew, who moved the building back, and added a new front, 
as the building stands at the present time. 

In 1845 the Custom House was located in a room on the 
north side of the house at the corner of North and Main 
streets, where it remained through the administrations of Mr. 
Jackson, Thomas Hedge and Edward P. Little, until 1857. 

James Easdell Leonard, the partner of Zaben Olney, was a 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 137 

Plymouth man, the son of Nathaniel Warren Leonard, and 
married Abby, datiig-hter of John Bishop, and step daughter of 
Ezra Finney, and hved for a time in the southerly half of the 
double house, recently owned and occupied by the late George 
E. Morton. Zaben Olney came from Rhode Island, and what 
his occupation was before he entered into partnership with Mr. 
Leonard, is not within my remembrance. He married in 
i8i6, Rebecca Morton, and in 1862, Olive P. Wolcott. For 
some years after 1837, he kept the Old Colony House in Court 
Square, and for several years after 1854, a hotel in the old 
Barnabas Hedge house on Leyden street, now owned and oc- 
cupied by Wm. Rider Drew. 

Harrison Gray Otis Ellis, who succeeded Olney and Leon- 
ard, came to Plymouth, from Wareham, but was in business 
here not more than a year, during which time he married Mar- 
garet D., daughter of Jeremiah Holbrook. He removed to 
Sandwich, where I think he kept for a number of years a dry 
goods and clothing store. Steward and Alderman, who owned 
the building from 1842 to 1846, and Alderman and Gooding 
kept during that time dry goods stores in it. 

Most of my readers will remember that in 1883 the corner of 
Market and Leyden streets was cut off by the county commis- 
sioners. At that time the old building on the corner was 
moved down Market street, and the present brick building put 
up on the new line of the street. As long ago as I can remem- 
ber, in 1829, the old house was kept as a hotel by Wm. Randall. 
Built by W^illiam Shurtleff in 1689, it had twice before been 
used as a hotel, once in 171 3 by Job Cushman, and again in 
1732 by Consider Howland. In 183 1 Mr. Randall occupied a 
part of the house as an auction room, and in 1832 he established 
with Lucius Doolittle a line of stages to Boston, which preceded 
the famous line established by George Drew. The stage office 
was in the corner room, and the stable was on the corner of 
School street and Town Square. In 1835 James C. Valentine 
had a harness shop on the corner, and later was succeeded by 
Martin Myers and Wm. Hall Jackson in the same business. 
Chandler Holmes and Lysander Dunham occupied the store 
until the building was m.oved. After William Randall, the 
residential part was occupied, at various times by Dr. Andrew 
]\Iackie, Sylvanus Bramhall, Wm. Rider Drew, James Thurber, 



138 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

David Drew, Isaac B. Rich and Mrs. M. J. Lincoln, the author 
of the Boston Cook Book. Wm. Hall Jackson, above men- 
tioned, died February 3, 1869. 

The occupants of the buildings on Market street, and the 
changes in the line of the street, which have been made within 
my recollection, come next in order. There w^as no change in 
the boundaries after 1715 until December 30, 1873, when the 
street was widened on the easterly side from the present bake 
house south. It was again widened November 5, 1883, by cut- 
ting off the Leyden street corner. Again on the first of Jan- 
uary, 1890, it was widened on the westerly side of Spring Hill 
by the removal of the building there situated. At the time 
the Leyden street corner was cut off, the building next to the 
corner was taken down, and the corner building moved into its 
place. A new brick building was put on the corner with the 
history of which my readers are familiar. The house now 
standing next to the brick one has already been discribed as 
the house on the corner. As long ago as I remember the house 
which stood next to the corner, and was taken down in 1883, 
was built by Benjamin Bramhall, and was called the green 
store. In 1827 it was occupied at times by William Z. Ripley, 
who kept a dry goods store, Rufus Robbins, who kept what 
was called the Old Colony bookstore, Benjamin Hathaway, who 
kept a harness store, and Sylvanus Bramhall, silversmith. In 
1833 it was occupied by James G. Gleason barber, in 1851, by 
James Kendrick, and later, by George A. Hathaway, book- 
seller, and Benjamin Churchill. 

The next building was occupied in my boyhood by Deacon 
Nathan Reed, who had at an earlier date kept a store in the 
next building on the south. He owned a barn in School 
street, which was burned in January, 1835, and I remember that 
the only house taking fire from flying embers was his own 
dwelling on Market street. He died, January 12, 1842, and in 
1856 his widow sold the house to Barnabas H. Holmes, who 
converted its lower rooms into a store, and occupied it for a 
tailor's shop. It was later occupied by Benjamin Cooper Fin- 
ney, as a store, and in 1883 was removed to the rear of the 
Brewster building on Leyden street, where it has since been 
used as a dwelling house with its old front room restored. 

The next building was long known as the Shurtleff tavern 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 139 

and, before the revolution, was partially occupied by General 
Peleg- Wadsworth for a private school. General Wadsworth's 
daughter Zilpah married Stephen Longfellow, the grandfather 
of the poet. As long ago as I can remember its upper story 
was occupied by Robert Dunham, who owned a large stable in 
the rear, the entrance to which was through the yard on the 
south of the building in question. Mr. Dunham was con- 
nected with stage lines to Boston and Taunton in connection 
with George Drew, and died in 1833. He had three daugh- 
ters, one of whom, Mary Ann, married Thomas Long, second 
cousin of Gov. John D. Long, and kept a milliner's store on 
Summer street in the house which was afterwards occupied by 
the late Benjamin Hathaway. 

The lower part of the Dunham building was divided into two 
stores. The northerly one was a candy store, kept by two la- 
dies, who were known only as Nancy and Eliza. I wish to 
embalm their memories in gratitude for the satisfaction my 
youthful taste often received at their hands. They were, 
Nancy, a maiden lady, daughter of James and Bethiah (Dun- 
ham) Paulding, and Eliza (Rogers) Straffin, wife of George 
Strafifin. They were succeeded by Stephen Rogers, who car- 
ried on the same business, and died. May 18, 1868. The 
other store was occupied by Lazarus Symmes, who had suc- 
ceeded Nathan Reed, and who died, Dec. 25, 185 1. After the 
death of Robert Dunham, the upper part was occupied by Dan- 
iel Deacon, who married, Mary, daughter of Thomas Torrance, 
and died March 13, 1842. The building in question was tak- 
en down, and the present building, recently owned by the estate 
of Zaben Olney, was erected on the northerly part of the lot, 
and on the southerly part the present bake house was erected 
by Samuel Talbot and George Churchill, bakers. 

In my youth a building standing on the south side of the en- 
trance to Dunham's stable, was owned by Antipas Brigham, 
who occupied it as a dwelling house and store. Mr. Brigham 
died, August 6, 1832, and was succeeded in the occupancy of 
the store by William Barnes in 1832, and later by Stephen Lu- 
cas, Ephraim Bartlett, and Wm. Henry Bartlett. In 1827 
Harv^ey Shaw, accountant, occupied the upper part for a time, 
and in 1845 Alvah C. Page occupied it for a writing school. 
The building in question was partially burned about 1870, and 



140 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

taken down, and in 1876 a building- which had been occupied 
by Wm. Bishop and others, on tlic Odd Fellows' lot on Main 
street, was moved to its site. 

This last building, after its removal was occupied for a time 
by Thomas N. Eldridge as a dry goods store. 

The next building has had its front altered into a store, but 
in other respects it remains as it was in my youth, when owned 
and occupied as a dwelling house by John Macomber. In 1874 
it came into the possession of Josiah A. Robbins, and the store 
now standing on its south side was moved from the present 
site of the store of Christopher T. Harris. 

The next house built in 1832 by Capt. Isaac Bartlett, came 
into the possession of John B. Atwood in 1855, who fitted up a 
store on its northerly side, and occupied the remainder as a 
dwelling. Capt. Isaac Bartlett was a shipmaster for many 
years, and made many voyages in the Havana trade between 
that port and Plymouth, in the brig Hannah, owned by Barna- 
bas Hedge. I have distinct and agreeable memories of his 
arrivals with loads of molasses, some of which I licked from 
sticks introduced into hospitable bung holes, without money and 
without price. Captain Bartlett died. May 3, 1845. ^Y ^is 
second wife., Rebecca, daughter of Caleb Bartlett, he had a son, 
Robert, born in 1817, and a daughter, Rebecca, born in 1819, 
both remarkable for minds capable of unlimited development 
and cultivation. Robert Bartlett, of whom I wish particularly 
to speak, was fitted for college in Plymouth by George Wash- 
ington Hosmer and Addison Brown, both graduates of Har- 
vard in the class of 1826; and graduated in 1836. He was tu- 
tor in Latin at Harvard from 1839 to 1843, when his early 
death destroyed the promise of a brilliant career. Aside from 
being a fellow townsman, I had an opportunity afforded by be- 
ing a fellow boarder with him two years in Cambridge, of es- 
timating his character and learning. I do not feel that I am 
violating any rules of propriety in speaking of a passage in his 
career, which gave me as a young man my first insight into the 
romances of life. He became engaged to my cousin, Elizabeth 
Crowell White, a daughter of Capt. Gideon Consider White, a 
lady of about his own age, and as remarkable as he in literary 
culture. After the death of her father and mother she was a 
member of my mother's family until her death. In 1842, on 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. I4I 

a visit to relatives in Nova Scotia, she broke off her engage- 
ment with Mr. Bartlett, and soon after contracted a new en- 
gagement with an EngHsh gentleman. The blow to Mr, Bart- 
lett was a severe one, and I remember well the visit which he 
made to our house on the afternoon of the day he received his 
letter of dismissal. After her return from Nova Scotia I was 
not long in discovering that her heart was still in the posses- 
sion of her former lover, though she endeavored to conceal the 
fact. At this time an inherited tendency to a disease of the 
lungs began to show itself, both in her and in Mr. Bartlett, and 
in both cases, consumption rapidly performed its fatal work. 
She was soon confined permanently to the house, and he was 
obliged to abandon his college work, and return home to be- 
come like her a prisoner in his chamber and bed. He was 
brought from Boston in the steamboat, then running, and she, 
knowing that he was coming, sat by the chamber window on 
the north side of our house on Cole's Hill, evidently anxious to 
catch a glimpse of one whom she had mistakenly cast off, but 
whom she still loved with all her heart. I remember well the 
tears she shed as he was carried up the street, and she saw him 
for the last time. Both failed rapidly. He died at his home, 
September 15, 1843, ^"^ she on the 7th of the next month, and 
both are buried in Vine Hills cemetery, united at least in spirit, 
where "they neither marry nor are given in marriage." 

It is not worth while to consider the occupancy of the re- 
maining estates between the Isaac Bartlett house and the brook. 
It will be sufficient to say that the first building next to the 
Bartlett House was at one time occupied by Oliver Keyes, and 
again by Martin Myers, who kept a harness store on the 
corner of Leyden street. Two stores have been erected in 
front of the building which are occupied by C. T. Harris & 
Son, and by the Co-operative store. In 1828 a man named 
Joseph D. Jones, kept a tinman's shop on Market street, but its 
precise location I cannot define. He advertised bulbous roots 
for sale, and we boys, always ready to adopt nicknames, called 
him bulbous Jones. He deserved a better name, for he was 
one of the best of men, conscientious in all his dealings, and a 
valuable citizen. At a later date he moved to a one story 
building on Main street, where Leyden Hall building now 
stands, after Dr. Isaac LeBaron, apothecary, had moved from 



142 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

it to the corner of North street. Rev. Adiel Harvey, pastor 
of the Baptist Society from 1845 to 1855, and superintendent 
of pubHc schools from 1853 to 1859, married his daughter. 
About forty years after he left Plymouth I met him one day 
in Boston, and instantly recognizing him, called him by name, 
and had a pleasant conversation with him. Of course he 
failed to recognize me, but he expressed great pleasure at meet- 
ing some one from Plymouth, who could tell him about the do- 
ings in the old town. Twelve or fifteen years ago I was ad- 
vertised to deliver an address before the Young Men's Christian 
Union, and the old man considerably over ninety years of age, 
seeing the advertisement, came escorted by his daughter to 
hear me. He died not many years ago at the Old Men's 
Home, on Springfield street, where he had been for some time 
an inmate, nearly if not quite, a centenarian. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 143 



CHAPTER XVI. 

On the opposite side of Spring Hill there was until 1890 a 
building- with a front on Summer street, but there was a tene- 
ment on its easterly end which must be considered in connec- 
tion with Market street. This tenement in my youth was oc- 
cupied by Clement Bates, a native of Hanover, who came to 
Plymouth and married Irene Sanger, daughter of Thomas 
Burgess, the keeper of the Plymouth lighthouse, who, because 
he always wore a red thrum cap, was called Red Cap Burgess. 
He married in 1824 Betsey Burgess, a sister of his first wife. 
He was a caulker, and graver by trade, and in 1831 was chosen 
sexton by the town, whose duty it was to conduct funerals, take 
care of the town house, and ring the town bell at such hours, 
morning, noon and night, as were specified by the town. Af- 
ter his relinquishment of the management of funerals, which 
had been taken up by private undertakers, he told me that he 
had buried thirty-two hundred and fifty persons. He per- 
formed the other duties of his office until his death, July 13, 
1885. It is an interesting fact that after so long a period of 
business dealings with the material bodies of the dead he be- 
came a confirmed believer in the doctrines of Spiritualism. 

In my early youth a wooden building standing on the north 
corner of Market and Summer streets, was occupied as a store 
by Bridgham Russell, until he was appointed postmaster in 
1832. Mr. Russell was the son of Jonathan and Rebecca 
(Turner) Russell of Barnstable, and was born in 1793. He 
married in 1822 Betsey, daughter of Jeremiah Farris of Barn- 
stable, and died March 29, 1840. He was the second Captain 
of the Standish Guards, succeeding Captain Coomer Weston. 
The store which Mr. Russell had occupied, was taken down in 
1832, and replaced by the present brick building, which was 
occupied by Alexander G. Nye, and for many years by Samuel 
and Thomas Branch Sherman. Samuel Sherman was Town 
Treasurer from 1835 to 1856, serving one year after I entered, 
for the first time, the office of selectman, and died October 20, 
1857. 



144 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

The next building was occupied as long ago as I can remem- 
ber by Osmore Jenkins, who kept a jeweller's store as early as 
1830, and after leaving Plymouth became distinguished in his 
profession. He was born in Mt. Vernon, N. H., September 4, 
181 5, and died in Melrose, Mass., December 19, 1904. Mr. 
Jenkins was succeeded by Wm. Morey, who occupied the store 
many years in making and selling boots and shoes. In those 
days, especially in winter, it was the universal custom to wear 
boots, the common close legged boots, in contra distinction to 
the top boots worn with small clothes. In 183 1, when I was 
nine years old, Mr. Morey made my first pair, and if school 
hours had not interfered I think I should have watched every 
stitch and peg in their construction. These boots, now little 
worn, were first introduced into the peninsular army by the 
Duke of Wellngton, and are to this day in England called Wel- 
lingtons. Why Congress boots, which have largely taken their 
place, should be so called, is somewhat strange, as similar laced 
boots have been for many generations worn in Ireland under 
the name of high-lows and brogans. 

Wm. Morey had seven sons, William, born in 181 3, John Ed- 
wards, 1815, Thos., 1817, Cornelius, 1820, Charles, 1825, Ed- 
win, 1827, and Henry, 1833. Of these Edwin lives in Boston, 
a successful and well known merchant; Thomas was in 1899 
the head of a thriving printing house in Greenfield, and of John 
Edwards I know nothing, while William, Charles and Henry 
have been dead some years, and Cornelius died in infancy. 

The building extending from the Morey building to High 
street, was in my youth divided into two tenements. The 
southerly part was owned and occupied by Samuel Talbot, who 
bought it in 1826. Air. Talbot, son of George Talbot of Mil- 
ton, was bom in that town in 1791, and came to Plymouth 
about 1820. In 1825 he formed a partnership with John Cal- 
derwood Holmes in the bakery business in the building in Sum- 
mer street now occupied by the Misses Rich. Mr. Holmes 
died May 17, 1826, and Mr. Talbot became associated with 
George Churchill in the business. I have often seen the room, 
now a parlor, full of sea biscuit, waiting to be packed in casks 
and placed on board the whalemen. I remember, too, the two 
wheeled green baker's cart with America Rogers driving, and 
the round, warm biscuit which he left at our house nearly every 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 145 

morning', the size and color of which varied with the price and 
qiiahty of flour. Mr. Churchill was a man of humor, and in 
speaking one day of the readiness of Plymouth people to catch 
at new ideas he said, "Yes, Plymouth people will swallow any- 
thing. I know that by experience, for I have stuffed them 
w^ith poor bread a good many years." Nevertheless, those 
warm biscuits were good, but America Rogers' buns and elec- 
tion cakes were better. Mr. Talbot d'ed September 28, 1883. 
The northerly part of the building was owned and occupied in 
my boyhood by John Kempton, a caulker and graver by trade, 
as a dwelling house and store. 

The building on the northerly corner of High street, recently 
owned by Chas. T. Holmes, was in 1832 the property and home 
of Samuel Robbins, and later of his son-in-law Robert Cowen. 
Until June 25, 1870, its southerly end extended about eight feet 
south of the general line of High street, but on that date the 
projection was taken by the town and the street line straight- 
ened. This projection was occupied in 1831, and later by Albert 
Leach as a shoemaker's shop, and still later byEleazer H.Barnes 
as a candy shop. Outside of the northerly end of the building, 
was a covered stairway and passage leading to a store in the 
rear of the main building in which Mr. Robbins kept a store 
until his death, which occurred July 27, 1838, at the age of 
eighty-six. It must have been about 1830 that he dislocated 
his thigh. At that time the means of reducing dislocations 
were crude, and I remember hearing in the street the terrible 
groans of the old gentleman while under the hands of the Bos- 
ton surgeon, who had been sent for to manage the case. 

The next building, which belongs to the estate of the late 
Charles T. Holmes, was occupied as long ago as I can remem- 
ber on the front by Wm. Brown for the post office on the street 
floor, while he held the office of postmaster from 1823 to 1832, 
after which it was occupied by Edward Hathaway for a harness 
store, and finally by Amasa and Charles T. Holmes. The cel- 
lar under the post office was occupied at various times by Henry 
Flanders, who died May 8, 1835, and later, by James Barnes 
and others as an oyster shop. In 1829 H. H. Rolfe taught a 
private school in the room over the post office, and in 1832, Ce- 
phas Geovani Thompson, a portrait painter, and native of Mid- 
dleboro, occupied for a time the same room where he painted 



146 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

portraits of Rev. Dr. Kendall, Capt. Nathaniel Russell and my 
mother. His son of the same name, was a highly esteemed 
portrait painter in Boston many years. The Old Colony Hall, 
a part of the estate in the rear of the main building, was 
through my youth occupied for various purposes. The Uni- 
versalist Society after its formation, held services there from 
1822 to 1826, when their church was built on Carver street. 
In 1833 Hiram Fuller taught a private school in the Hall, and 
many times in my boyhood I attended lectures and exhibitions 
there, among which were those of Harrington, the ventrilo- 
quist. At a later period the hall and the upper part of the 
main building were occupied by Stephen P. and Joseph P. 
Brown for a furniture sho£ and show room. William Brown, 
above mentioned, died May 9, 1845. 

In speaking of Main street in an early chapter I referred to 
the physical changes which it had undergone within my mem- 
ory. I propose now to say something about the occupants of 
its houses. As far back as I can remember the building on 
the corner of Main and Leyden streets contained a store in the 
lower story on Main street, a large room or hall on the comer 
over the store, and a tenement with an entrance on Leyden 
street. The store was occupied as early as 1825 as a hardware 
store by James and Ephraim Spooner, who dissolved partner- 
ship in 1832, Ephraim continuing in the business. In 1839 
John Washburn and William Rider Drew were established in 
the store in the same business. In 1846 Messrs. Washburn 
and Drew separated, the former taking a store on the west side 
of the street, and the latter establishing himself as has been 
stated in the building on Leyden street, which had been occu- 
pied by Steward and Alderman, and Aldemian and Gooding. 
The store after Washburn & Drew left it was divided into two 
and the corner one was occupied at various times by Benjamin 
Swift in the watch and clock business, and Edward W. At- 
wood. The other was occupied by Edward Hathaway and 
Edward Bartlett, Reuben Peterson and Rich and Weston's ex- 
press. At a later time both stores were occupied by Weston's 
express succeeded by their present occupant, the New York 
and Boston Despatch Express. 

It is worthy of notice as showing one of the steps in the pro- 
gress of the temperance movement that the Plymouth Temper- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 147 

ance Society in 1825 placed in the hands of Ephraim Spooner 
a quantity of intoxicating liquors to be by him given without 
charge to persons presenting the written prescription of a phy- 
sician. Mr. Spooner was appointed postmaster in 1840, and 
again in 1842, after an interval of one year, during which Jos- 
eph Lucas held the office. He died April 10, 1887. 

The large room over the store was occupied as a school 
room in 183 1 and 1832 by George Partridge Bradford, who 
taught a mixed school of boys and girls, of whom T was one, 
and by Wm. Whiting, also, as a school room in 1833. It was 
later used by private teachers, and often as political campaign 
headquarters. The tenement was in those days occupied by 
Oliver Wood, the father of the late Oliver T. and Isaac L. 
Wood. 

Mr. Bradford was the son of Gamaliel Bradford of Boston, 
and graduated at Harvard in 1825. He prepared for the min- 
istry, but never sought a settlement, devoting himself to the 
profession of a teacher. Concord was frequently his home, 
and he possessed that mental temperament which made him a 
congenial companion of Emerson and Alcott. He died in 
Cambridge in 1890 at the age of 80. 

Mr. Whiting graduated at Harvard in 1833, and while pre- 
paring himself for the bar taught a school in Plymouth, and, 
like the teachers who had preceeded him, George Washington 
Hosmer, William Parsons Lunt, William H. Lord, Isaac 
N. Stoddard, Nathaniel Bradstreet, Benjamin Shurtleff, Hor- 
ace H. Rolfe and Josiah Moore, married a Plymouth wife. 
Charles Field another teacher, died while his marriage engage- 
ment to a Plymouth lady was pending. Mr. Whiting married 
Lydia Gushing, daughter of Thomas Russell, and became a 
distinguished leader at the Boston bar. Miss Rose S. Whit- 
ing of Plymouth is his daughter. During the Civil war he 
was for a time the solicitor of the War Department, and pub- 
lished a very able paper on "War Powers under the Constitu- 
tion," which was taken as a guide in many doubtful questions 
arising during the war. He died at his home in Roxbury, 
June 29, 1873. 

The next one story building was occupied as far back as my 
memory goes by Thomas May as a shoe store. He occupied 
it until 1845, when Henry Howard Robbins took the store and 



148 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

occupied it as a hat store, and was succeeded by Harrison 
Finney, who occupied it many years for the sale of shoe kit and 
findings, until his death, July 2^, 1878. Mr. Robbins died De- 
cember 19, 1872. 

The next store now occupied by Benjamin L. Bramhall. was 
before 1830 occupied by Ezra Collier, who kept a bookstore and 
circulating librar}'. In 1829 he formed a partnership with 
William Sampson Bartlett, under the firm name of Collier and 
Bartlett, which was dissolved the next year. Mr. Collier came 
to Plymouth about 1820, and married in 1823 Mary, daughter 
of Thomas and Mehitable (Shaw) Atwood, and I think re- 
moved from town after the dissolution of his partnership. 

Mr, Bartlett continued the business in the same store until 
1840, when he moved into the store built by him now occupied 
by Finney's pharmacy in the building owned by Dr. Benjamin 
Hubbard. Anthony Morse succeded Mr. Bartlett, and occupied 
it for a grocery store. It was later occupied by Benjamin 
Bramhall for a short time, and by William L. Battles for a 
year, when it was again occupied by Mr. Bramhall, who was 
succeeded by his son, Benjamin L., its present occupant. Ben- 
jamin Bramhall died August 15, 1882. 

The next store was occupied by Thomas and George Adams 
as a hat store from 1828 until the dissolution of their partner- 
ship in 1830. Thomas Adams continued the business until 
1832, when he gave up business, and not long after was em- 
ployed as a salesman in the hat store of Rhodes on the corner 
of Washington and Court streets in Boston. He was a son 
of Thomas and Mercy (Savery) Adams, and married Eunice 
H. Bugbee of Pomfret, Vermont. He was not open to the 
charge of promoting race suicide as the following record of his 
children shows, to wit: Mary E., born in 1832; Thomas H., 
1834; Frederick E. and Frank W,, twins, 1836; Luther B. and 
Ellen, twins, 1837; Miranda B., 1839; Harriet E., 1841 ; James 
O. and another twin, 1841 ; David B., 1845 I Walter S. and an- 
other twin, 1848, Adelaide V., 1849. 

George Adams, brother of Thomas, removed to Boston, and 
became the well known and successful founder of the Boston 
directory. He returned to Plymouth in 1846, and occupied 
the old store. He married in 1829 Hannah Sturtevant, daugh- 
ter of Ephraim Harlow, and had George W., 1830, who married 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. I49 

Mary Holland of Boston ; Hannah, 1832, who married Dr. Ed- 
ward A. Spooner of Philadelphia; Sarah S., 1840, and Theo- 
dore Parker, 1845, ^vho married Ellen B., daughter of Joseph 
Cushman. He died October 4, 1865, at the age of fifty-eight. 

In 1835 Henry Howard Robbins moved his hatter's business 
to this store, and it was later occupied by John Perkins & Reu- 
ben Peterson, hatters, Weston & Atwood, clothiers, and Wm. 
F. Peterson and others. 

My first recollection of the Old Colony Memorial was 
when it was located in one or both rooms over the two stores 
just mentioned. James Thurber was then the publisher, and 
Benjamin Drew was one of the type setters. The paper was 
ready for the press by seven o'clock every Friday evening, and 
I remember well how much I enjoyed as a boy the permission 
to go to the office after supper and help fold the papers. The 
machine used in printing was the old Washington hand press 
which, tended by two men, could print one side at the rate of 
two or three hundred in an hour. Today a Hoe press is 
furnished with a roll of paper more than four miles long, and 
will print fifteen thousand complete newspapers in an hour. 

The next store was in 1834, occupied by James G. Gleason 
as a barber's shop, to which was attached a small room for the 
sale of soda and ice cream. Up to 1828 the barber shop of 
Jonathan Tufts, which stood on Church street, where the office 
of Jason W. Mixter, now stands, was the gathering place where 
the gossips of the town exchanged their news of the latest 
scandal. His shop had been for many years the place of de- 
posit for curiosities which shipmasters collected in various parts 
of the world. Both the gossip and the curiosities were inheri- 
ted by the Gleason shop, and finally descended to the shop of 
Isaac B. Rich and John T. Hall, Mr. Gleason's successors. 

Sometimes practical jokes were played in the shop more en- 
tertaining to the lookers on than to the victims. One of the 
habitues was William Bradford, a manufacturer of cotton bats, 
a man of humor, always ready to play a part in any prank. 
One day while Mr. Bradford was in the shop, Mr. Gleason 
went out on an errand and a countr>^man came in to be shaved. 
Bradford with a wink at the crowd said, "All right sir, your 
turn next, sit right down." He gave the man a bountiful lath- 
er, and pulling off the towel said to him, "This is all we do 



150 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

in this department, you will have to go into the next shop to 
get your shave. When you go in don't mind the old fellow in 
the front room, for he is a queer chap, a little off in his head, 
but go right through into the back room where they do the 
shaving." Daniel Gale, the tailor, occupied the next shop, us- 
ing the front room for cutting out work, and the back room for 
the sewing women. Mr. Gale was astonished, and so were the 
women, but when the angry countryman returned, Bradford 
had left, and Gleason had to bear the brunt of his mischief. Mr. 
Hall occupied the store until he purchased the Dr. Warren 
house on the west side of Main street, which he occupied 
until his death, September 21, 1885. Among those who have 
since occupied the store were, Mrs. Mary F. Campbell and 
Frederick L. Holmes. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. I5I 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The last chapter closed with a mention of the various occu- 
pants of the building on the east side of Main street, formerly 
occupied by John T. Hall, and now occupied by a provision 
store. 

The next store was a one story building, which was occupied 
during my early youth by Deacon Solomon Churchill for a 
crockery store, and for some reason, good man as he was, the 
boys selected him as a victim of many of their mischievous 
acts. They would, after tying his door handle, throw gravel 
against his windows, throw a cat dead or alive into his store, 
or capturing one of their comrade's caps, toss it inside his 
door, where a good spanking was the only condition of its re- 
lease. Deacon Churchill, son of Amaziah and Elizabeth (Syl- 
vester) Churchill was born in Plymouth in 1762, where he 
married Betsey Bartlett, and died in Perry, Ohio, April 10, 
1835. Daniel Gale, the tailor, already referred to, succeeded 
Deacon Churchill, and occupied it many years. Further men- 
tion will be made of him as an occupant of a house on the west 
side of the street. 

The next store standing by itself was also a one story build- 
ing, in my youth occupied as an apothecary shop by Dr. Isaac 
LeBaron until 1835, when he moved to the corner of Main 
and North streets. Dr. LeBaron was succeeded by Joseph D. 
Jones, tinman, who has been already referred to in connection 
with Market street. The above two one story buildings occu- 
pied the sites of the present Leyden Hall building, and the 
Hubbard building. 

After the erection of Leyden Hall building its early occu- 
pants were, Joseph Cushman, Alderman & Gooding, on the 
North side, and Jameson & Company and Benjamin O. 
Strong on the South side. Mr. Cushman, son of Joseph and 
Sally (Thompson) Cushman of Middleboro, came a young 
man to Plymouth and opened a dry goods store on the comer 
of Main street and Town Square, whence he removed to the 
Leyden hall building, and continued in business there some 



152 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

years. In December, 1849, ^''^ sailed from New York for Cali- 
fornia, and became a permanent resident on the Pacific coast. 
He finally settled in Olympia in Washington territory, where 
he engaged in the lumber and general mercantile business, and 
held the position of receiver of public moneys. He married 
in 1835 Sarah Thomas, daughter of Barnabas and Triphena 
(Covington) Hedge of Plymouth, and died in Olympia, Feb- 
Tuary 29, 1872. Two of his daughters, Mary A., widow of 
Alfred E, Walker of New Haven, and Ellen Blanche, who 
married Theodore Parker Adams, live in Plymouth. 

The firm of Alderman & Gooding consisted of Orin F. 
Alderman and George Gooding. Thev had previously occu- 
pied a store where John E. Jordan's hardware store now 
is. Mr. Alderman came to Plymouth from some town un- 
known to me, and married Eliza Ann, daughter of John and 
Deborah (Barnes) Gooding of Plymouth, and sister of his 
partner. After closing his business in Plymouth, he removed 
to Framingham, where he and his wife are still living. 

George Gooding, son of John and Deborah Gooding, above 
mentioned, was born in Plymouth in 1822. He was my play- 
mate and schoolmate, and I may say my comrade in arms, as 
we were members of a boys' military company, of which he 
was captain, and I was lieutenant. In our Saturday afternoon 
parades with drum and fife, we flattered ourselves that we ex- 
cited the admiration of the misses in their teens, but we failed 
to be appreciated by our fellow citizens, for to their shame, be 
it said, they did not even offer us a thirty thousand dollar ar- 
mory for our use. Mr. Gooding married Eliza Merrill of 
Concord, N. H., and died in Plymouth, ]\Iarch 5, 1850. 

Mr. Jameson, the head of the firm of Jameson & Co., came 
to Plymouth from one of the Bridge waters and died in 1854. 

Benjamin Owen Strong, son of Ely and Betsey (Baldwin) 
Strong was born in Granville, Mass., February 25, 1832, and 
came to Plymouth in the autumn of 1851, when nineteen years 
of age. He first held the position of clerk in the Mansion 
House at the corner of Court and North streets, then conduct- 
ed by N. M. Perry, but in May, 1852, he became a clerk in the 
dry goods store of Jameson & Company. On the death of 
Air. Jameson in 1854, Mr. Strong assumed control of the 
store. He later bought out the establishment, and from that 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 153 

time to this has carried on the dry goods business with honor 
and success. He married Betsey J. Chute of Xewburyport, 
and again, February 17, 1891, Ehzabeth H. Snow of Orleans. 
His son, Charles Alexander, became his partner in 1884. As 
the Nestor of the merchants of Plymouth, I make an exception 
of him among the living, and award to him a special notice. 

The next building was erected by Wm. Sampson Bartlett 
in 1840, and the store on the lower floor was occupied by him 
as a book store until 1846, when he removed to Boston. Dr. 
Benjamin Hubbard has since that time occupied the tenement 
in the building as his home, and has also until a very recent 
date occupied the store as an apothecary shop. 

The next building was occupied from 1826 to 1832 by Isaac 
Sampson as a dry goods store, and the late James Cox was 
his assistant. Mr. Sampson was the son of Benjamin and 
Priscilla (Churchill) Sampson of Plymouth, and married in 
1822, Elizabeth, daughter of William Sherman. The late 
George Sampson of the firm of Sampson and Murdock, pub- 
lishers of the Boston Directory, was his son. He died May 7, 
1832, forty-two years of age. After the death of Mr. Samp- 
son the store was occupied by various tenants, among whom 
were Reuben Peterson, w4io kept a hat store, Calvin Ripley, 
James Barnes, Stephen Lucas and Charles H. Churchill, who 
preceded D. Flanzbaum, a tailor, the present occupant. 

A part of the store was set off as a separate room, and has 
been occupied at various times by Winslow^ S. Holmes and 
others. Calvin Ripley died ]May i, 1874. 

The next building was occupied for some years previous to 
1852 by Thomas Davis and Wm. S. Russell, under the firm 
name of Davis & Russell, who kept a general store 
for the sale of dry goods and crockery. The import- 
ation of the Pilgrim plates was due to their enterprise. The 
tradition that they were manufactured expressly for use at the 
dinner in 1820 on the anniversary of the "Landing" is not cor- 
rect. Messrs. Davis & Russell, impressed with the idea that 
an invoice of Pilgrim china would prove a profitable venture, 
ordered of Enoch \\'ood & Sons of Burslem, England, a con- 
siderable quantity of large sized plates and two sizes of 
pitchers. Happening to arrive not long before the celebration, 
they were hired for the dinner, and afterwards sold as memen- 



154 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

toes of the occasion. They took so well with the public, and 
brought such high prices, that the firm ordered an additional 
invoice, which included in all six sizes of plates and the same 
two sizes of pitchers, and the pieces have been scattered far 
and wide, the market value in bric-a-brac stores being twelve 
dollars for the large plates, and fifteen and ten dollars for the 
two sizes of pitchers, while the small sized plates are unob- 
tainable. There is a group of these various sizes owned by a 
collector in New York, a photograph of which may be seen 
in Pilgrim Hall. At this time it is impossible to distinguish 
the pieces originally imported from those which came after- 
ward. 

Davis & Russell were succeeded by John S. Hayward in 
1827, who continued in the dry goods business until 1831. 
The store was afterwards occupied by the Plymouth Institu- 
tion for savings, the Old Colony Insurance Co., and a reading 
room, until 1842, and was bought in 1847 ^Y Jason Hart, who 
moved his dry goods business from Summer street, and occu- 
pied the store until 1856, when Leander Lovell and John H. 
Harlow, under the firm name of Lovell & Harlow, became its 
occupants. John H. Harlow and Albert Barnes succeeded 
Lovell & Harlow, they in turn being succeeded by Wm. At- 
wood, clothier, the predecessor of H. H. Cole, the present oc- 
cupant. Jason Hart died February 20, 1874, at the age of 
seventy-one. The room over the store was occupied at various 
times by Joseph W. Hodgkins, tailor, Wm. Whiting and Wm. 
G. Russell, teachers of private schools, Wm. Davis, attomey- 
at-law, and Stephen Lucas and others, photographers. Wil- 
liam Davis died, February 19, 1853, and Mr. Hodgkins died, 
May II, 1872. 

William G. Russell was the son of Thomas and Mary Ann 
(Goodwin) Russell, and graduated at Harvard in 1840. He 
studied law with Wm. Whiting, his brother-in-law, and became 
an eminent member of the Boston bar. He married in 1847, 
May Ellen, daughter of Thomas and Lydia (Coffin) Hedge, 
and died in Boston, February 6, 1896. 

The next building was divided into two stores as long ago 
as I can remember it, and the southerly one was occupied by 
John Bartlett 3d, as a drj'- and West India goods store from 
1827 to 1846, and the late Joseph Holmes, brother of Mrs. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 155 

William Bartlett, was his assistant. Mr. Bartlett was the son 
of John and Polly (Morton) Bartlett, and married, 1829, 
Eliza, daughter of Ezra Finney, and lived in the northerly part 
of the house on Court street, next south of the present house 
of Capt. Edward B. At wood. He afterwards removed to 
Boston, and engaged in the grocery business on the corner of 
Federal and Purchase streets, and died in 1862. He was the 
fourth Captain of the Standish Guards, and our townsman, J. 
E. Bartlett, who lives on Clyfton street, is his son. The next 
occupant of the store was Bradford & Gardner's express, 
which suggests a word concerning the Plymouth and Boston 
expresses. Samuel Gardner, a former driver on the Boston 
line of stages, was the father of the Plymouth express busi- 
ness. In January, 1846, two months after the opening of the 
Old Colony Railroad, he started Gardner's express with a 
booking office in the Pilgrim House on the comer of Middle 
street. In IMarch, 1846, Edward Winslow Bradford, a former 
master of the packet Hector, started Bradford's express with 
an office at No. 4 Main street. After the burning of the Pil- 
grim House in June, 1846, Bradford and Gardner formed a 
partnership, and established Bradford & Gardner's express, 
and occupied the John Bartlett store. After a few years Har- 
vey W. Weston bought Gardner out, and for a short time the 
firm name was Bradford & Weston. In the meantime Isaac 
B. Rich started an express with an office in Town Square. 
Mr. Rich next bought Bradford out, and the firm name be- 
came Rich & Weston, being succeeded by Weston alone, who 
finally sold out to the present company, the New York and 
Boston Despatch Express. Mr. Rich had immediately before 
the establishment of his express kept a flour and grain store 
on Water street. He died March 18, 1874. 

Another express was started before the war by Allen 
Holmes, with an office first in Market street, and later in the 
old brick building on the comer of Court street. Mr. Holmes 
sold to Wait, who sold to Snow, who sold to Hubbard, who 
finally sold to Fowler, who had an office on Middle street. G. 
A. Holbrook ran an express a short time at an unknown date. 

Edward W^inslow Bradford, the old partner of Gardner, 
again started an express about 1870, which continued until 
his death, December 2y, 1874. Still another express was start- 



156 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

ed by Guilford Cunningham, and a man named Cook, which 
passed into the hands of Frederick W. Atwood. 

Nathaniel Bradford, son of Edward Winslow Bradford, 
formed a partnership in the express business with Freeman 
E. Wells, who sold out to Simmons & Torrence, the prede- 
cessors of the present Torrence express. Benjamin H. Cran- 
don ran an express for a short time with an office on Middle 
street in the easterly end of the building on the corner. 

I know of no occupant of the John Bartlett store after Brad- 
ford & Gardner, until William H. Smoot occupied it as a res- 
taurant. Mr. Smoot stuttered badly, as did our townsman, 
Anthony Morse, but neither knew the other's defect in speech. 
Not long after he began business Mr. Morse came one day 
into the shop and said, "Mr. Sm-o-o-t have you any ice 
cr-r-eam?" "Y-y-y-es — have s-s-ome?" "D-d-d-amn your 
ice c-r-r-eam," said Morse, very indignant at such an insult, 
and went out shutting the door with a slam. The more recent 
occupants, Jas. E. Dodge, who died February 20, 1888, Mr. 
Richards, Mr. McCoy, Martin Curly, and Manley E. Dodge, 
are well known to my readers. 

The small store on the corner was occupied as a boot and 
shoe store by Bartlett Ellis from 1824 to 1831. I remember as 
a boy seeing in his store a box of India rubber shoes packed 
in sawdust, the first ever seen in Plymouth, having been im- 
ported in Boston in small quantities in the rough state from 
Para. This was before the process was discovered of making 
the rubber pliable, and the shoes were as stiff as iron, requir- 
ing to be warmed before a fire before they could be put on. 
Mr. Ellis was succeeded by Ephraim Bartlett, and Henry 
Mills, both in the same business, and later by E. D. Seymour, 
tailor. The more recent well known occupants have been 
Cateb Holmes, who died June 21, 1878, Charles H. Snell, Har- 
rison Holmes, and the recent occupant, Henry C. Thomas, 
in the market business. The room over the store was occupied 
by the Old Colony Democrat in 1833, conducted by Benjamin 
H. Crandon and Thomas Allen, and in 1834 by We The Peo- 
ple, conducted by C. A. Hack and Horace Seaver. 

On the corner of Main and Middle streets there stood as long 
ago as I can remember the Plymouth Hotel, built by George 
Drew about 1825, and kept certainly in 1827, and perhaps ear- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 157 

Her by James G. Gleason. I remember the hotel in 1828, when 
mv aunt, Mrs. Gideon C. White was boarding there with her 
four children, while her husband was at sea in command, I 
think, of the ship Harvest, belonging to Barnabas Hedge, In 
the summer of the above year a small circus came to Plymouth 
and performed in a tent pitched in the stable yard on Middle 
street. Mrs. White's children were going to the circus, at- 
tended by William Paty, a brother of the landlord's wife, and I 
a boy of six years, was permitted by my mother to go with 
them. W'hile the horses made no impression on my memor\', 
I have a lively recollection of the monkey riding the pony's 
back. Mr. Gleason, who was the third captain of the Standish 
Guards, kept the Plymouth Hotel until 1830, when he was suc- 
ceeded by Ellis Wright, who kept it until 1834. 

Capt. Gleason was a portly, jovial landlord, who, I think, 
came to Plymouth from ]\Iiddleboro and married in 1816 Lucy 
T., daughter of Joshua Bartlett, and second in 1820, Asenath, 
daughter of John Paty. He was at different times landlord of 
the Plymouth Hotel, hairdresser on Market street, barber on 
Main street, landlord of the Mansion House on the corner of 
Court and North streets, and a purveyor of oysters and clam 
chowder in various places. He was a man of humor, always 
ready with an answer turning the laugh away from himself. 
In those days the price of a common drink at the bar was four 
pence half penny, or six and a quarter cents, but a drink of 
brandy was nine pence, or twelve and a half cents. One day 
a stranger called at the bar for a glass of brandy and Gleason 
in the American fashion gave him the bottle to help himself. 
To the astonishment of Gleason he filled his tumbler nearly full, 
and with a little water, drank it with gusto, and placed on the 
counter a nine penny piece. Gleason gave him back four 
pence, half penny, and the stranger said : "I thought that 
brandy was nine pence. "It is," said Gleason, "but we sell half 
price by wholesale." The stranger took the hint, and insisted 
on paying a quarter for the extended drink. At another time, 
while keeping the Mansion House, a passenger by the stage ar- 
rived for supper and left after breakfast the next morning. On 
calling for his bill he found the charge to be five dollars. 
"Good gracious" said the traveller, "I never paid such a bill as 
that before." "No," said Gleason, "and I don't suppose you 



158 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

ever had the honor of stopping at the Mansion House before." 
Mr. Gleason died Oct. 6, 1853. 

A few days after the Old Colony Railroad was opened 
Gleason went down to the railroad station to gratify his curios- 
ity, and seeing a locomotive on a track he climbed on, and while 
fumbling about the rods and bars he turned on the steam and 
away the engine went. Gleason hopped ofif, but fortunately an 
engineer on another locomotive attached to a train about to 
start for Boston, unshackled his machine and caught up with 
the runaway, and brought it back. "Hem ! didn't she whiz," 
said Gleason in telling the story. 

Ellis Wright, who succeeded Capt. Gleason, was a Plympton 
man, son of Isaac and Selah (Ellis) Wright, and after leaving 
Plymouth removed to Boston. The hotel had a good hall in 
the second story, which was much used for dancing schools 
and cotillion parties and exhibitions of various kinds. I at- 
tended my first dancng school in that hall, and have danced 
there at many cotillion parties since. 

In 1834 Danville Bryant became the landlord, and from that 
time until it was burned, the hotel was called the Pilgrim 
House. Whence Mr. Bryant came, or where he went, I have 
no means of knowing, but he continued in the hotel until 1840. 
His daughter, Abigail, married Horace B. Taylor. It was 
during his administration, and that of Mr. Wright, that the fa- 
mous line of stages to and from Boston was established, and 
continued until the opening of the Old Colony Railroad in 1845. 
As I remember it the line consisted of an accommodation and a 
mail stage. The accommodation left Plymouth at six or seven 
o'clock each day, and returning left Boston at two, going 
through West Duxbury, Pembroke, Hanover, West Scituate, 
Weymouth Landing, Quincy and Dorchester. The mail 

stage left Boston at five o'clock in the morning, arriving at 
Plymouth at ten-thirty, when a return stage took passengers 
from the Cape, arriving by the stage driven by Wm. Boyden, 
and the Boyden stage took the passengers bound to the Cape. 
The route of the mail stage would be one day the same as that 
of the accommodation, and the next it would turn oft at West 
Scituate and go through Hingham to Ouincy, and so into 
Boston. The mail stage carried two pouches, one contain- 
ing the through mail from the Cape, and the other containing 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 159 

the way mail, which would be thrown off at the various post 
offices to deliver and receive the mail to and from that office. 

I remember the various lines of stages running- every day in- 
to and out of Boston, and I can say that no better horses or bet- 
ter drivers could be seen than those on the Plymouth line. 
There were in Boston various stage houses, Wilde's on Elm 
street, Doolittle's City tavern on Brattle street, the Washing- 
ton House on Washington street, and others. The Plymouth 
stage office was in the City Tavern on Brattle street, and there 
orders were left for calls by the stage for passengers. The 
business on the line was good, and extra stages were frequently 
required to meet the demand. It was a busy scene in front of 
the Pilgrim House about half past ten on the arrival and de- 
parture of the Boston and Cape stages, and Geo. Drew, the 
manager of the line, might be seen here and there with a red 
bandana handkerchief hanging from his teeth, giving direc- 
tions and orders. 

The drivers were as good as the horses. There were Capt. 
Woodward, Granville Gardner, Samuel Gardner, Benjamin 
Bates, John Bates, Asa Pierce, Phineas Pierce, Mr. Burgess, 
Mr. Orcutt, and I think at one time, Jacob Sprague. John 
Bates was perhaps the king of the line, wearing in suitable 
weather, a white beaver hat, a brown suit of clothes, well pol- 
ished boots, and neat gloves. He was no more proud of his 
team than the team was of him. After the line was broken 
up by the railroad he drove for some years what was called a 
Roxbury hourly, running with its alternate mate from that 
part of Washington street between State street and Cornhill, to 
the Norfolk house and back. He always drove four horses, 
and his omnibus was not far from twenty feet long, and to 
reach his Boston station he would drive up Court street and 
down Cornhill. Mr. Bates married in 1827 Hannah S., daugh- 
ter of John Faunce of Plymouth, but I know neither the place 
or date of his death. 

Another estimable and much respected driver was Phineas 
Pierce, the father of Phineas Pierce, now a retired merchant 
in Boston, and a recent member of the School Committee in 
that city, and a trustee of the Boston Public Library. He 
married in 1829 Dorcas M.. daughter of Caleb Faunce of 
Plymouth, and died August 10, 1841. His death was a sad 



l6o PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

one. He stopped at Hanover to take a passenp^er, and in 
strapping the trunks on the rack of the stage he stood on the 
hub of the hind wheel, and throwing himself back with his 
whole weight on the strap, the strap broke, and falling to the 
ground, he was instantly killed. 

There were other lines of stages within my recollection run- 
ning to New Bedford, Middleboro and Bridgewater, with head- 
quarters at Bradford's and Randall's taverns in which Oliver 
Harris, Theophilus Rickard and Henry Carter and others were 
employed as drivers. Mr. Carter, who drove the Bridgewater 
stage some years, married in 1833, Maria Bartlett Banks, and 
for many years before his death he was the Plymouth station 
master of the Old Colony Railroad. Mr. Harris came from 
New Bedford and married in 1835 Ruth Rogers (Goddard) 
Fish, widow of Samuel Fish, and daughter of Benjamin God- 
•lard of Plymouth. Our late townsmen, Capt. Wm. O. Harris 
and Christopher T. Harris, were his sons. 

The dancing school which I attended in the Plymouth Hotel, 
was kept by F. C. Schaffer in 1833 ^^'^ 1834. There were no 
local dancing masters in those days, and professionals occu- 
pied the field, and as the lawyers say, followed the circuit. 
They would arrange schools in different towns for five after- 
noons and evenings in the week, and drive from one to another, 
reaching their homes on Saturday. There were other pro- 
fessionals who preceded and followed Mr. Schaffer, amonp* 
whom were S. Whitney in 1828, and Lovet Stimson in 1830, 
who taught in Burbank's hall on Middle street. At the rear 
end of the Burbank house, which stood immediately above the 
present house of Winslow S. Holmes, there was a two story 
projection, the lower part of which was occupied by Samuel 
Burbank's bake house, above which was the hall in question. 
All I remember of the schools in that hall is that on the closing 
night of the term in one or the other, when pupils were permit- 
ted to dance until twelve o'clock, and invite their friends, a ter- 
rific thunder storm set in before midnight with heavy rain and 
fearful lightning, which continued so that pupils and parents, 
my mother with the rest, were tmable to reach home until the 
small hours of the morning. In those days it was the fashion 
for women to wear as stifTeners in their corsets busks made of 
wood or whalebone or steel, and doubtless on that as on sim- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. l6l 

ilar occasions, those who wore steel drew them deftly from 
their waists, and put them where the lightning would fail to 
find them. 

While Danville Bryant was keeping the Pilgrim House, men 
more or less generally adopted the fashion of wearing skin 
tight trousers spreading closely over the instep and fastened 
with a strap under the foot. The most conspicuous persons in 
Plymouth to adopt this fashion were Mr. Bryant and Capt. 
Simeon Dike. Of course the trousers and boots had to be 
put on and off together, thus making the fashion too trouble- 
some to last, and by a process of evolution the cloth or leather 
gaiters followed. It is as true in dress as in other things that 
one extreme follows another, and so the next fashion for men 
was for loose trousers with full plaited or gathered bodies. 

In 1840 the Pilgrim House passed into the hands of Francis 
J. Goddard, who kept it two or three years, and was succeeded 
by Stephen Lucas, who again was succeeded in 1845 by Joseph 
White. Of course ]\Ir. Goddard, son of Daniel and Beulah 
(Simmons) Goddard, is remembered by most of my readers. 
Mr. Lucas was a man of varied occupations during his long 
life. A wheelwright by trade, he kept several kinds of stores 
later, a stable on School street, the Pilgrim House, a photo- 
graph saloon, and last a fruit store, as the predecessor of 
Charles H. Churchill on Main street. He was the son of Sam- 
uel and Jemima (Robbins) Lucas of Carver, and married in 
1820 Rebecca Holmes of Plymouth, and died November 2^^, 
1888. Joseph White, previous to his taking the hotel, had a 
stall in the Plymouth market. The Hotel was burned June 
20, 1846, and Mr. White left Plymouth and carried on a board- 
ing house in Boston on the corner of Bedford and Lincoln 
streets. 

The Pilgrim House was burned as I have stated, June 20, 
1846. I was in Europe at the time, but my letters from home 
told me about the midnight fire, and about the appearance on 
the scene of Dr. Wm. J. Walker, a director of the Old Colony 
Railroad, in his drawers. He was occupying for the summer 
the house on North street now occupied by the Misses Russell. 

After the Masonic building, then called the Union building, 
was built on the site of the Pilgrim house, one of its first ten- 
ants was Dr. Samuel Merritt, already fully referred to in a 



l62 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

former chapter, who occupied the two rooms on the corner, 
one for his office, and one for his sleeping room. After Dr. 
Merritt went to California in 1849, the rooms were occupied 
successively by Dr. F. B. Brewer, dentist, Dr. Robert D. Fos- 
ter, and Dr. Sylvanus Bramhall, also dentists, and by Dr. James 
L. Hunt. Winslow S. Holmes at one time occupied a barber 
shop in a rear room on Middle street, and also at one time, 
Charles T. May and Lysander Dunham had shops in the north- 
erly Main street room. The other occupants of the street 
floor and basement, many of whom will be recalled by my read- 
ers, have been too numerous to mention. The corner room 
upstairs was occupied in 1850 by Wm. H. Spear, attorney-at- 
law, and the other room, together with the hall, called Union 
Hall, was used by the Standish Guards. Until 1869, when the 
building came into the possession of the Masons, the hall was 
used for miscellaneous purposes, including dancing schools 
kept by Wm. Atwood and others, cotillion parties, lectures and 
exhibitions. 

The next site, on which the engine house stands, was occu- 
pied farther back than 1830 by a dwelling house, in which lived 
on the south side Dr. Nathan Hayward, and on the north side 
two of my great aunts. Miss Hannah White, who died Jan. 
3, 1841, at the age of ninety-four, and her sister, Airs. Joanna 
Winslow, who died in May, 1829. 

Dr. Hayward was the son of Nathan and Susanna (Latham) 
Hayward of Bridgewater, and in 1793-4 was a surgeon in the 
United States Army, under Major General Anthony Wayne in 
the war against the western Indians. In 1795 he married An- 
na, daughter of Pelham and Joanna (White) Winslow, and set- 
tled in Plymouth. He was at one time in partnership with Dr. 
James Thacher, and with him was instrumental in establishing 
the first stage line to Boston in 1796. He was my mother's 
family physician, and I have a vivid recollection of his adminis- 
tration to my rebellious stomach of senna and salts, tincture of 
rhubarb and castor oil, and also of that instrument fearfully 
and wonderfully made with which he occasionally extracted a 
tooth. He was appointed in 1814 by the Governor sheriff of 
Plymouth county, and continued in office until 1843. His 
youngest son, George Partridge Hayward, now living in Bos- 
ton, was named after his predecessor in office, George Par- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 1 63 

tridge of Duxbury. Dr. Hayward in 1831 formed a profes- 
sional partnership with his nephew, Dr. ^^'inslow Warren, and 
died June 16, 1848. 

Pelham Winslow, the husband of ]Mrs. Joanna Winslow, was 
a son of General John and Mary (Little) Winslow, well known 
as the officer in command of the expedition for the removal 
from Acadia of the neutral French, and married in 1770 Joan- 
na, daughter of Gideon and Joanna (Rowland) White. He 
graduated at Harvard in 1753. In 1768 he and James Hovey 
of Plymouth were the only barristers at law in Plymouth 
County, thus holding a position at the bar above that of either 
Attorney-at-law or counsellor. At the coming on of the rev- 
olution he adhered to the crown, and after the evacuation of 
Boston, joined the British Army in New York, where he was 
appointed paymaster general. He died on Long Island in 
1783, leaving in Plymouth his widow and two daughters, Anna 
above mentioned, who married Dr. Hayward, and Mary, who 
married Henry Warren. With little means of her own, and 
wishing to do what she could to maintain herself and family, 
her father, Gideon White, who owned the house in question, 
built an addition, coming out to the sidewalk, and fitted up the 
lower story for her store. The last time I saw the old lady 
she and her sister, after taking tea at our house, fitted out for 
home with a lantern, which in those days everybody carried on 
dark evenings, as there were no street lights of any kind. An 
incident which occurred many years after in one of the finan- 
cial panics, recalled her to my mind. Mr. \\'m. R. Sever, 
county treasurer, came to me one day in great distress, because 
he was unable to borrow at any of the banks ten thousand dol- 
lars to meet county obligations coming due, and asked me to 
help him. I went to Boston, and, knowing that it would be 
useless to apply at any bank, went to see ]\Ir. Ebenezer Francis, 
living in Pemberton Square, who with Abbot Lawrence, Robert 
G. Shaw and Peter C. Brooks, were the only persons in Boston 
rated at a million, while now you can't turn a corner without 
running against a millionaire. "No, Mr. Davis, I cannot loan 
tlie money to the county," Mr. Francis said in answer to my 
application. "I am a poor man. I have one hundred thous- 
and dollars lying in the old Boston bank, drawing no interest." 
"But," said I, "here is a good opportunity to place a portion of 



164 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

it at interest." "But I don't like the security, I can't put every 
man in the county in jail." "May I ask what you call good se- 
curity" I rejoined. "Yes, sir," with an emphasis which show- 
ed his business training at a time when commercial honor was 
more potent than law — "a note based on a business transaction 
signed by the buyer and endorsed by the seller." But I got 
my money much to the joy of Mr. Sever, and the obligations of 
the county were paid. 

Before I left he asked me if I had ever heard of a Mrs. Joan- 
na Winslow, and he was interested to learn that she was my 
great aunt. More than fifty years ago he said he kept a store 
on Washington street, where she bought for her store pins and 
needles and ribbon, buttons and laces for her stock in trade. 
"She was very much of a lady," he added, and was remember- 
ed by h\m always with pleasure. It was a surprise to him to 
learn that Judge Charles Henry Warren, whom he knew very 
well, was her grandson. 

The interview presented to my mind two transitions in the 
shifting scenes of life — one from the home of gentle blood to 
the little store, and the other from the little store to the man- 
sion of the millionaire. 

After the death of Miss Hannah White in 1841, William S. 
Russell moved into the part of the house which had been oc- 
cupied by her and made it his home with his family until his 
death, and after the death of Mrs. Dr. Hayward the house 
was occupied for a time by the Old Colony Club, until it was 
bought by the town. The little store was abandoned by Mrs. 
Winslow after a few years' occupancy, and used as a store by 
James LeBaron. As far back as I can remember it was occu- 
pied by John Thomas, attorney-at-law, who was succeeded by 
Gustavus Gilbert, also an attorney, who occupied it until 1845. 
In that year William S. Russell occupied it as a grocery store, 
followed by Miss Priscilla Hedge with a circulating library. 
Capt. Eleazer Stevens Turner then occupied it as a grocery 
store, succeeded by Pelham Winslow Hayward, who had his 
office there until the town bought the estate. 

Gustavus Gilbert was a son of David Gilbert, an attorney- 
at-law in Mansfield, who graduated at Harvard in 1797. Mr. 
Gilbert came to Plymouth not far from 1830, and married 
Caroline Eliza, daughter of Dr. Isaac LeBaron. He practiced 
law in Plymouth many years, and died September i, 1865. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 165 

William S. Russell was a son of James and Experience 
(Shaw) Russell, and married in 1820 Mary Winslow, daugh- 
ter of Dr. Nathan Hayward. After the firm of Davis & Rus- 
sell in Plymouth, of which he was a member, was dissolved in 
1827, he moved to Boston, and for a time was in the wholesale 
dry goods business in Central street, the senior member of the 
firm of Russell, Shaw & Freeman. After the dissolution of 
the partnership in 1829, he formed a partnership with Wm. 
Sturtevant in the same business, which continued two years, 
when he continued the business in partnership with Andrew 
L. Russell. When the last firm discontinued business he went 
to Illinois as the representative of parties in Plymouth and 
Boston, owners of land in that state, and after his return set- 
tled in Plymouth. In 1846 he was chosen Register of Deeds 
for Plymouth County, and continued in office until his death. 
He was a careful student of Pilgrim history, and by the publi- 
cation in 1846 of a "Guide to Plymouth and Recollections of 
the Pilgrims," and in 1855 of "Pilgrim Memorials and Guide 
to Plymouth," made valuable contributions to Pilgrim litera- 
ture. He died in Plymouth, February 22, 1863. 



l66 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



I remember the occupants of the building north of the en- 
gine house as far back as 1828. On the 9th of July in that 
year, I was playing on the sloping cellar door, while the funeral 
procession of Henry Warren was forming in front of the next 
house. The house in question was occupied on the north side 
by David Turner, and on the south side down stairs by Mrs. 
Grace (Haynian) Goddard, and her sister, Abigail Otis, and 
up stairs on the south side by Betsey Morton Jackson, and 
her sister, Maria Torrey Jackson, daughters of Woodworth 
Jackson. Betsey Morton Jackson died June 10, 1827, and her 
sister Maria became one of the family of my grandmother, 
after her removal to Boston, and died in Boston, May 18, 1856. 
David Turner was a son of David and Deborah (Lothrop) 
Turner, and married in 1793 Lydia Washburn. I remember 
him well with his military walk and bearing. His pew was in 
the northwest corner of the old church, and I can see him now 
entering by the north door and marching up to his scat with a 
soldierly air and step. 

Mrs. Goddard and Miss Otis were daughters of John and 
Hannah (Churchill) Otis of Plymouth. Grace Hayman mar- 
ried in 1796 John Goddard, a surgeon in the United States 
Navy, who while serving on board the sloop of war Boston, 
died at Gibralter, June 15, 1802, at the age of thirty-two years. 
She had two daughters: Harriet Otis, born in 1797, who mar- 
ried Abraham Jackson, and Mary, who married Arthur French 
of Boston. Mrs. Goddard, as long as I knew her, kept a little 
store in the southerly corner room now occupied by a furni- 
ture store, which was once the law office of James Otis, the 
patriot, and died February 8, 185 1, and her sister Abigail died 
February 11, 1857. 

Not many years after the death of David Turner, his part of 
the house was occupied some years by James Thurber, who 
came to Plymouth in 1832, and conducted until his death, the 
Old Colony Memorial. That paper, under his management, 
had able contributions to its columns, and held a high position 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 167 

among the country newspapers of the state. Mr. Thurber was 
an ardent Whig, and during the poHtical campaigns of the 
period, exerted a potent influence on the voters of Plymouth 
county. I knew him well, and from the time when as a boy I 
assisted on Friday evenings in folding newspapers in his of- 
fice, until his death I enjoyed his friendship. He married in 
1831 Elizabeth, daughter of Asa Danforth of Taunton, and 
sister of Allen Danforth of Plymouth, and had Eliza- 
beth 1832, and in 1839 James Danforth, Treasurer 
of the Plymouth Savings Bank. He moved into the house in 
question from the house where he had lived some years on the 
corner of Leyden and Market streets. Mr. Thurber died May 
20, 1857. Among the tenants of the house in later times were 
Wm. H. Spear, John Perkins, John Morissey and Mrs. Thomas 
Atwood, and the stores have been occupied by Keith and 
Cooper, pharmacists, J. W. Cooper, pharmacist, the Loring 
pharmacy, by Baumgartner, James B. Collingwood & Sons, 
and W. N. Snow, all furniture dealers. 

On the south side of the dwelling house on the corner of 
North street, was a yard with a chaise house and stable in its 
rear. In 1839 Allen Danforth bought the yard and outbuild- 
ings and built the house now occupied by the post office in 
which he lived until his death. 

He was a son of Asa and Deborah (Thayer) Danforth of 
Taunton, where he was bom, January 18, 1796, and married 
December 30, 1818, Lydia Presbr\% daughter of William Sea- 
ver of that town. In 1821 he established in Taunton the Old 
Colony Reporter, edited by Jacob Chapin, the first number of 
which was issued April 4, in that year. In the spring of 1822 
he came to Plymouth and established the Old Colony Me- 
morial, the first number of which was issued to two hundred 
and twenty-three subscribers. May 4, in that year. In its early 
)'ears the Memorial occupied a chamber in Market street, 
over the store of Antipas Brigham. In 1836 he gave up the 
management of the paper to his brother-in-law, James Thur- 
ber, the printing office being then located on Main street. 

The Plymouth Institution for Savings, whose name was 
changed in 1847 ^o the Plymouth Savings Bank, and with 
which Mr. Danforth was for forty-three years identified, w^as 
incorporated June 11, 1828, and on the 25th of July Barnabas 



l68 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Hedge was chosen President, and Benjamin Marston Watson, 
Treasurer. On the first of August, 1829, the same ofHcers 
were chosen, but I\Ir. Watson decHning, ^^Ir. Danforth was 
chosen in his place. The place of business of the bank was at 
first in the Plymouth Bank on Court street, and as its annual 
meetings were held in various places, sometimes at the Plym- 
outh Bank, sometimes in the reading room, and again at the 
Old Colony Bank — it is difiticult to locate for some years its 
actual resting place. I am quite sure, however, that for a time 
its office was in the room on Main street, in which John S. 
Hayward had kept a store where H. H. Cole is now in business. 

The Old Colony Insurance Company was incorporated 
March 6, 1835, with a capital of $50,000, and organized with 
Jacob Covington, president, and Mr. Danforth secretary, and 
shared an office with the savings institution. On the 2d of 
June, 1 84 1, the institution for savings jointly with the Plym- 
outh Bank, the Old Colony Bank, and the Old Colony Insur- 
ance Company, bought of Thomas and William Jackson a 
vacant lot on Main street, and erected a building into Avliich 
those institutions moved in 1842. Mr. Danforth retired from 
the office of secretary of the Insurance Company in 1853, and 
subsequently its charter was surrendered. 

At the time of the establishment of the Savings Bank, such 
institutions were comparatively new and general confidence 
in their soundness had not been established. Facilities for 
reaching Plymouth were imperfect, and consequently the early 
growth of the bank was slow. The custom of hoarding, how- 
ever, was soon abandoned, and the integrity of Mr. Danforth, 
and his discreet management of the Bank soon attracted a 
rapidly increasing business. Its deposits, which at the end of 
five years, had only reached one hundred thousand dollars, 
amounted according to the last statement made by Mr. Dan- 
forth in December, 1871, to $1,759,189.97, while since that 
time about three-quarters of a million have been added. 

Mr. Danforth was a man possessing traits of character 
which fitted him for the responsible position in which he was 
placed. He was eminently a man of a judicial mind, and if he 
had been bred to the law he would have been a leader at the 
bar, or a distinguished judge. No statute or decision touching 
financial matters escaped his notice, while court reports, recent 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 169 

or old, relating to banks and banking, were familiar to him. 
During his life he devoted himself to the welfare of the insti- 
tution under his care, neither seeking office nor accepting it, 
except twice as representative, and twice as a member of the 
board of selectmen. While repeatedly solicited to act as exe- 
cutor or administrator or trustee, he was only in few excep- 
tional cases willing to assume their distracting responsibilities. 
Mr. Danforth's death was a sad one. He was taken with 
smallpox, and before many of his fellow citizens were aware 
of his sickness, he died May 28, 1872. Death came near the 
midnight hour, and before morning he was buried, unattended, 
except by those who were immune. A funeral service was 
held in the Unitarian church, Sunday, June 2, and a fitting 
tribute was then paid to his memory. 

The Warren house on the corner of North street was occu- 
pied as long ago as I can remember by Henry Warren, the son 
of James Warren, of the revolution, whose wife was Mercy 
Otis, sister of James Otis, and who lived in the house in ques- 
tion. Mr. Warren was born in 1764, and married in 1791 
Mary, daughter of Pelham and Joanna (White) Winslow. 
He was the collector of the port from 1803 to 1820, and died 
July 6, 1828. He had two daughters and seven sons. Of these 
James died young, and Mary Ann died unmarried. ]\Iarcia 
married in 1813, John Torrey, and was the mother of Henry 
Warren Torrey, late professor of history at Harvard. Wins- 
low, born in 1795, graduated at Harvard in 1813, and fitting 
himself for the practice of medicine settled in Plymouth, where 
as early as 183 1 he became a partner of Dr. Nathan Hay ward. 
His office was for some years at the corner of North street, 
and there in 1832 I was examined by him as chairman of the 
School Committee for admission into the High School. He 
married in January, 1835, Margaret, daughter of Dr. Zacheus 
and Hannah (Jackson) Bartlett, and after the death of Dr. 
Bartlett, which occurred December 25, 1835, he moved into his 
office and occupied it until his death, June 10, 1870. Dr. War- 
ren was not only learned and skillful in his profession, but was 
also a man of mental culture, familiar with the world's affairs, 
and decided in his opinions on the great questions of the day; 
a man of moral culture, conscientious to the last degree ; a man 
of social culture, a true gentleman. Pelham Winslow Warren, 



170 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

born in 1797, graduated at Harvard in 181 5, and from 1822 to 
183 1 was the clerk of the Massachusetts House of Represen- 
tatives, holding also in 1829 the office of collector of the port 
of Plymouth, and living in the Warren house. During the 
last few years of his residence in Plymouth he was the super- 
intendent of the Sunday school in the old church. The general 
lessons given by him I remember well. They were not mere 
platitudes, such as are often addressed to children, but inter- 
esting and instructive in language adapted to young minds on 
rhe handiwork of God in sea, earth and sky. Under his minis- 
trations I became for the first time conscious of a power to 
think. When the Railroad Bank in Lowell was incorporated 
he was appointed its cashier, and lived some years in that city. 
When he retired from the Bank he removed to Boston, and 
engaged in the banking and brokerage business until his death. 
He married at Clark's Island in 1825, Jeanette, daughter of 
John and Lucia (Watson) Taylor, and died in Boston, Octo- 
ber 6, 1848. 

Charles Henry Warren, born September 29, 1798, graduated 
at Harvard in 18 17. He studied law with Joshua Thomas of 
Plymouth and Levi Lincoln of Worcester, and settled in New 
Bedford first as a partner of Lemuel Williams, and later of 
Thomas Dawes Eliot, and from 1832 to 1839 was District At- 
torney for the five southern counties of Massachusetts. In 
1839 he was appointed Judge of the Common Pleas Court, 
continuing on the bench until 1844, when he removed to Bos- 
ton and associated himself with the law firm of Fiske and 
Rand, composed of Augustus H. Fiske and Benjamin Rand. 
He appeared as counsel for the defendant in the memorable 
trial of Rev. Joy H. Fairchild, charged with adultery, and se- 
cured his acquittal. Experiencing premonitions of heart dis- 
ease he abandoned practice, and in 1846 was chosen president 
of the Boston and Providence railroad, remaining in office until 
1867. He was president of the Massachusetts Senate in 185 1, 
and president of the Pilgrim Society from 1845 to 1852. He 
married Abby, daughter of Barnabas and Eunice Dennie 
fBurr) Hedge of Plymouth, and died in Plymouth, June 29, 
1874. As no monument or stone marks the place of his bur- 
ial, I think it proper to say that the bodies of both himself and 
wife were deposited in the Warren tomb. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. I7I 

Richard Warren was born in 1805, and in early manhood 
embarked in business in Boston and failed, settling with his 
creditors for a percentage on their claims. He afterwards re- 
moved to New York, where he engaged successfully in an 
auction commission business, confined chiefly to cargo sales of 
teas, sugar, coffee and other importations. As soon as his 
recuperated financial condition warranted, he discharged prin- 
cipal and interest the old indebtedness from which he had 
been formally released. He was president of the Pilgrim 
Society from 1852 to 1861, and the two great celebrations of 
the anniversary of the embarkation of the Pilgrims on Mon- 
day, the first of August, 1853, and Tuesday, the second of 
August, 1859, owe their inspiration largely to him. He mar- 
ried first Angelina, daughter of Dr. Wm. Pitt Greenwood of 
Boston, and sister of Rev. Francis Wm. Pitt Greenwood of 
King's Chapel, and second, Susan Gore of Boston, and died in 
Boston, April 12, 1875. 

George Warren, born in 1807, in early manhood made sev- 
eral voyages as supercargo in the Havana and Russia trade. 
The ship Harvest belonging to Barnabas Hedge, in which I 
think he sailed when bound with sugar, to Russia, would put 
into Plymouth to obtain a clean bill of health before complet- 
ing her voyage. He afterwards went to New York and formed 
a partnership with Ebenezer Crocker, a native of Barnstable, 
under the firm name of Crocker & Warren. The firm owned 
the following ships : Alert and Talisman, commanded by Capt. 
Gamaliel Thomas of Plymouth ; Queen of the East, commanded 
by Capt. Truman Bartlett, Jr., of Plymouth ; Raven, command- 
ed by Capt. Bursley of Barnstable ; Archer, commanded by 
Capt. Henry, and the Skylark, commanded by Capt. Bursley. 
Capt. Thomas made seven voyages to Calcutta and California 
in their employ, and Mr. Warren told me once that his ac- 
counts were always so complete and accurate that he could 
settle with him a nine months' Calcutta voyage in fifteen 
minutes. In the great fire which occurred in New York, De- 
cember 23 and 24, 1835, which burned six hundred and seven- 
ty-four houses between lower Broadway and the East River. 
Crocker & Warren had five hundred bags of saltpetre stored 
in a warehouse burned, and the cause of repeated explosions 
which occurred, was for a time a mystery, leading to the often 



172 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

repeated question — will saltpetre explode? It was finally de- 
termined that while saltpetre alone is not explosive, the carbon 
furnished by the burned bags formed an explosive mixture. 
He married Elizabeth, daughter of Barnabas and Eunice Den- 
nie (Burr) Hedge, and died in New York, November 20, 1866. 

Edward J. Warren, born in 1809, was in business in New 
York many years, a part of the time associated with his brother 
Richard. Of ready wit and quick eye, and with a familiarity 
with prices he was one of the most attractive and efficient 
salesmen in New York. He married Mary, daughter of Wm. 
G. Cofiin, the official head for many years of the Massachusetts 
land office, and died in New York April 27, 1872. 

Soon after Henry Warren died, Madam Warren removed 
to Boston and lived some years on Allston street, but later 
returned to Plymouth and occupied successively until her 
death, the house on Middle street, next to Mr. Beaman's un- 
dertaking rooms, and the house on Main street, where the new 
bank building stands. In 1833 Dr. Isaac LeBaron moved into 
the Warren house, and in 1836 occupied the apothecary's shop, 
which Dr. \\^arren had vacated. I not only remember the gild- 
ed pestle and mortar over his door, but also the sugar baker's 
molasses, which he kept in stock furnished to him by the father 
or brother of his wife, w^ho owned a sugar refinery in Leverett 
street, Boston. Almost as dark colored as tar, and nearly hard 
enough to cut with a knife, it was like the witch's gruel, "thick 
and slab," and those who now eat buckwheat cakes with honey 
or syrup, have little idea how good they were eaten with that 
sugar baker's molasses. Dr. LeBaron died January 29, 1849. 

At various times the Warren house was occupied by Mrs. 
Wm. Spooner, the family of Capt. Wm. Bartlett, and in still 
later times by the Young Men's Literary Institute, the Public 
Library, the Custom House, and stores of Wm. Babb, John 
Churchill, Pratt & Hedge, James C. Bates, Davis and Whiting, 
N. M. Davis, Edgar Seavey, Allen Holmes and Edward Baker 
and Allen T. Holmes. Among the transient residents were 
Mrs. Ann Boutelle, widow of Dr. Caleb Boutelle, and her 
daughter Anne Lincoln, boarding with one of the permanent 
families in the house. The south front chamber is hallowed in 
my memory, for there on the 5th of December, 1835, Anne 
Lincoln Boutelle, one of my playmates and schoolmates, died 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 173 

in consumption, one too sweet and pure and frail to tread the 
rough paths of Hfe. I saw her a day or two before she died, 
with a little table by her bed side laden with gifts of fruit and 
flowers, which loving friends had sent, and to which I added 
my own. I never go into the printing office, which includes the 
chamber in which she died, without recalling her saintly face, 
her saintly voice, and her saintly spirit, joyous at the thought 
of journeying home. A memorial of her life and character 
was published, written by Mary Ann Stevenson, a niece of Mrs. 
Judge Joshua Thomas, a copy of which if one can be found, 
I am anxious to obtain. 

The Odd Fellows' lot on the corner of Main street and Town 
Square, included as long ago as I can remember the sites of 
two houses, one on Alain street and one on the square. In this 
chapter only the occupants of the former will be considered. 
In 1829 there were two stores on the lower floor facing Main 
street, and two tenements above. The store on the corner was 
occupied by Salisbury Jackson, who removed in 1835 to a 
store, which he had fitted up in his house on the south side of 
Leyden street. He was succeeded by Joseph Cushman, who 
has been already noticed. 

Mr. Cushman was succeeded by J. M. Perry, agent, and Mr. 
Perry by Henry Orson Steward and Eleazer C. Sherman in 
the grain business. Mr. Steward, who previously was a mem- 
ber of the firm of Steward and Alderman, carrying on a dry 
goods store on Leyden street, came to Plymouth from Connec- 
ticut, and married Bethiah, daughter of Samuel West and Lois 
(Thomas) Bagnall. He finally removed from Plymouth, and 
after a second marriage, died in Framingham. Mr. Sherman 
later carried on the business alone, removing to a store at 
the head of Hedge's wharf, where he remained as long as he 
continued business in Plymouth. He later became a wholesale 
dealer, receiving in Plymouth and Boston constant shipments 
of corn, which were sold in the various markets of the state. 
He was President of the Old Colony Bank for a time, a mem- 
ber of the executive council, and finally, until his death, Presi- 
dent of the Commonwealth National Bank in Boston. He was 
a son of Levi and Lydia (Crocker) Sherman of Carver, and 
was born in 18 17. He married first Louisa Jane Gurney of 
North Bridge water, now Brockton, and second in 1878 Mary 



174 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

L. (Perkins) Thayer, widow of Edward D. Thayer of Boston, 
and died in Boston. 

Mr. Sherman was succeeded by Thomas Loring, who occu- 
pied the store many years. Mr. Loring was son of Ezekiel 
and Lydia (Sherman) Loring of Plympton, and married Lucy, 
daughter of Jonathan Parker of Plympton, and died in Boston 
a few years ago. 

The next store was occupied at various times by Bridgham 
Russell, Jeremiah Farris, Benjamin Hathaway, Henry Howard 
Robbins, Edward Bartlett, Reuben Peterson, Lewis Peterson, 
and Wm. F. Peterson. Mr. Russell has already been referred 
to. Mr. Farris was a son of Jeremiah and Lydia (Eldridge) 
Farris of Barnstable, and w^as born in that town in 1810. He 
married in 1832 Mary, daughter of Nathaniel and Betsey 
(Woodward) Carver of Plymouth, and settled in Plymouth. 
He first formed a partnership in the dry goods business with 
Benjamin Hathaway, and after the partnership was dissolved 
Mr. Hathaway continued in business, and added the business 
of making neck stocks. Not long after Mr. Farris joined with 
Oliver Edes in the manufacture of rivets in North Marshfield, 
and Plymouth, and finally established the Plymouth Mills, 
which is still in active business as a corporation under the 
management of his son-in-law, Wm. P. Stoddard. Mr. Farris 
was the sixth captain of the Standish Guards. Mr. Hathaway 
afterwards continued the stock business in other locations, and 
the first time I ever saw Chief Justice Albert Mason, he 
was at a bench in Mr. Hathaway's shop cutting out material 
for stocks. Nothing in the career of Mr. Mason as artisan, 
lawyer, soldier and Judge, impressed me as much as his resolve 
while working at his bench to change the current of his life. 
The flow of the tide never specially impresses me, but when I 
see the buoys change their slant from East to West, I begin 
to wonder. 

Mr. Mason was the son of Albert T. and Arlina (Orcutt) 
Mason, and was born in Middleboro, Mass., Nov. 7, 1836. He 
came to Plymouth in 1853, and after working a short time in 
Mr. Hathaway's stock factory, he studied law in Plymouth with 
Edward L. Sherman, and was admitted to the Plymouth bar 
Feb. 15, i860. In July, 1862. I was requested to raise two 
companies to be attached to the 38th Regiment, and recommend 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. I75 

their officers, and in accordance with that request I raised 
Companies D and G, and recommended Mr. Alason for the post 
of second Heutenant of Company D. He was dul)' commis- 
sioned, and afterwards promoted to be first heutenant, Captain 
and Assistant Brigade Quartermaster. At the close of the 
war he resumed practice in Plymouth, and in 1874, removing 
to Brookline, was appointed by Governor Washburn a member 
of the Board of Harbor Commissioners. In 1879 he was ap- 
pointed a member of the Board of Harbor and Land Commis- 
sioners by Governor Talbot ; Judge of the Superior Court by 
Governor Long in 1882, and Chief Justice in 1890 by Governor 
Brackett. He married November 25, 1857, Lydia F., daughter 
of Nathan and Experience (Finney) \Miiting of Plymouth. 
In 1893 he received from Dartmouth the degree of LL. D., 
and died in Brookline Januar}' 2, 1906. 

Henry Howard Robbins was the son of Rufus and Mar- 
garet (Howard) Robbins, and was born in Plymouth in 181 1. 
He was a hatter by trade, and at various times occupied other 
stores on ]\Iain street. My first recollection of him was as a 
member of the old Plymouth Band, organized soon after 1830. 
The members of the band, according to my recollection, were 
Bradford Barnes, leader, clarinet; William Atwood, trom- 
bone ; John Atwood, serpent ; Eleazer H. Barnes, cornopean ; 
James M. Bradford, bassoon ; Samuel H. Doten, clarinet ; John 
N. Drew, trombone ; Nathaniel D. Drew, bugle ; Edward Hath- 
away, bass drum ; Albert Leach, bugle ; Thomas Long, fife ; 
Seth Morton, snare drum ; Edmund Robbins, orphicleide ; 
Henry Howard Robbins, clarinet ; Albert Finney, bugle, and 
Ellis Rogers, bass drum. 

The orphicleide, one of the instruments above mentioned, 
had a short career, and has not only gone out of use, but also 
almost out of memory. I have been unable to find any one be- 
sides myself who remembers it. The proprietor of the music 
store in Plymouth never heard of it. No one in the store of 
John C. Haynes & Co., of Boston, remembers it, and the leader 
of the band in Cambridge on Commencement Day told me that 
he had no recollection of it. I remember it distinctly, a brass 
instrument about three feet long and six inches in its largest 
diameter, and with a curved mouthpiece, resembling somewhat 
that of the bassoon. The snare drum, which in its oblong form 



176 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Stood the test of four hundred years, has since my youth de- 
generated into the present instrument, which resembles in 
shape and size a generous Herkimer county cheese. The trom- 
bone, probably the ancient sackbut, has held its own, and is the 
oldest musical instrument now in use. Mr. Robbins married 
Mercy ]\Iorton, daughter of John Eddy, and died December 
19, 1872. 

Reuben Peterson was the son of Elijah and Abigail (Whit- 
temore) Peterson of Duxbury, and was born in that town 
about 1788, and married in 181 2 Mary, daughter of Benjamin 
White of Hanover. He was a hatter by trade, and he, as well 
as his son Lewis, who died October 5, 1878, and grandson, 
William F., now living, are remembered by my readers. 

Edward Bartlett was a harness maker, and occupied this as 
well as other stores. He was the son of Stephen and Polly 
(Nye) Bartlett, and was born in Plymouth. He married Bei;- 
sey Beal of Kingston, and died within the memory of many 
readers. 

Mr. Hathaway above-mentioned, retiring from active busi- 
ness, became a director of the Plymouth National Bank and 
devoted himself to the care of his ample property. He mar- 
lied in 1828 Hannah, daughter of William Nye of Plymouth, 
and second in 1857, Sally Barnes, daughter of George W. 
Virgin, and died July 15, 1880. 

In my early youth the second story was occupied by Mrs. 
Francis Leonard Maynard and Dr. Hervey N. Preston. Mrs. 
Maynard, the daughter of Major William and Anna (Barnes) 
Jackson, was born in Ph^mouth in 1789, and married February 
5, 1821, Samuel Maynard. She occupied the whole front of 
two rooms on Main street, and one room on the northerly side 
of the building separated from the other two by a narrow entry 
to which access was had by an outside flight of stairs leading 
from Main street. The corner room on the square she occupied 
as a schoolroom, in which she taught boys and girls from about 
six to ten years of age. I was one of her pupils, and must 
have entered the school as early as 1828, because I remember 
seeing the engines go by on their way to the fire which burned 
the anchor works in that year. Among my fellow pupils I 
can recall Jane Elizabeth Bartlett, daughter of James Bartlett, 
who married Thatcher R. Raymond ; Mary Holbrook, daugh- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 1 77 

ter of Jacob Covington, who married George H. Bates of 
Brooklyn, N. Y., and her sister Martha, Betsey Foster Ripley, 
daughter of Deacon Wm. Putnam and Elizabeth Foster (Mor- 
ton) Ripley, Priscilla and Barnabas Hedge, children of Isaac 
L. Hedge, and Francis L. and George Maynard, children of 
the teacher. Mrs. Maynard was at that time a widow and an 
ideal schoolmistress. She was an accomplished lady, and 
taught not only the ordinary branches of a school edu- 
cation, but also sewing and, above all, good man- 
ners. I carried away from her school as evidence 
of my industry and skill a section of a patchwork bed quilt, 
and I trust also some of the fruits of her lessons in deportment. 
I may incidentally say that the wife of Rev. Dr. Mann of Trin- 
ity church in Boston is a grandchild of Mrs. Bates, one of the 
pupils above mentioned. I think that Lucy Ann Jackson, a 
granddaughter of Benjamin Crandon, was also a pupil, and 
much the oldest girl in the school, who is now remembered 
because I recall the dinners she brought to eat at the noon re- 
cess. Mrs. Maynard's daughter Frances married a lawyer in 
St. Louis, and her son disappeared from my memory soon 
after my schoolboy days. The chief punishment in the school 
was standing in the corner wearing a foolscap, and one 
girl who was exemplary and conscientious in after life, scarce- 
ly passed a day without suffering this punishment. 

The chambers in the westerly end of the house occupied by 
Dr. Preston, were reached by a door with a projecting porch 
on the southerly side of the building eight or ten feet from the 
town tree, which stood on what is now the gutter in the square. 
The stairway from the outside door led to a broad hall above 
which separated the school room from Dr. Preston's sitting 
room. These two rooms had broad folding doors which were 
used when the building was a hotel, and called after its owner, 
the Witherell tavern. John Howland, who died in Newport 
not many years ago at the age of 97, said in his diary, "that at 
the Pilgrim celebration, December 2, 1803, the dinner was held 
in a large old house, in which the partitions in the chambers 
had been removed to make room for the tables." He doubtless 
took it for granted that what were really doorways were open- 
ings made for the occasion. I remember well the folding 
doors. Dr. Preston came to Plymouth in 1829. He was the 



1/8 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

son of Amariali and Hannah (Reed) Preston, and was born in 
Bedford, Mass., June 21, 1806. He married a Miss Sargent, 
and practiced in Plymouth until his death, which occurred in 
Boston July 14, 1837, 

The later occupants of the second story were Thomas Lor- 
ing, Augustus Deming, Lydia Keyes, who died June 30, 1873, 
at the age of 75 years, and Jacob Howland, who died June 3, 
1876, at the age of 82 years. 

The building in question stood ten feet or more back from 
the southerly line of the lot, while the building above it on 
the square, came out to the sidewalk. When Odd Fellows' 
Hall was built the open space was built upon. About 1850 
Mr. Isaac Brewster, representing the owners of the lot, erected 
a two story building in the yard on its northeast corner, which 
was occupied below for many years by Wm. Bishop, as early 
as 1845, as the Old Colony bookstore, and later by Charles 
C. Doten, and above by William Davis as a lawyer's office, and 
by Benjamin Whiting and Wm. S. Robbins, photographers. 
In 1876 it was moved to a lot on Market street, below the bake 
house, where it now stands. Odd Fellows' building had three 
rooms on Main street. That in the corner was occupied many 
3^ears by the postoffice. The next was occupied by Stevens M. 
Burbank, H. N. P. Hubbard, and Hathaway and Sampson, 
and the third by Z. F. Leach, H. W. Dick, Alfred S. Burbank 
and Hatch & Shaw. The building was destroyed by fire 
January 10, 1904. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 179 



CHAPTER XTX. 



There stood where the Sherman block stands until that block 
was built a few years ago a two story wooden buildings occu- 
pied in my boyhood by George W. Virgin at the south end, 
and by Deacon Wm. P. Ripley at the north end. These stores 
were at various times also occupied by Samuel Shaw & Co., 
Henry Tilson, Wm. Z. Ripley, Wm. T. HoUis, South worth 
Barnes, Stevens M. Burbank, Thomas Holsgrove, Jacob How- 
land and Albert N. Fletcher. 

Samuel Shaw, a son of South worth and Maria (Churchill) 
Shaw, was born in Plymouth in 1808, and married Mary Gibbs, 
daughter of Simeon Dike, and died May 28, 1872. Mr. Vir- 
gin, the son of John and Priscilla (Cooper) Virgin, married in 
1816, Mary, daughter of Isaac and Lucy (Harlow) Barnes, 
and died April 19, 1869. Henry Tilson, who died in January, 
1835, and Wm. P. Ripley have been already referred to. 
William Z. Ripley, the son of William P. and Mary (Briggs) 
Ripley, was born in Plymouth and married Adeline B. Cush- 
man. He finally removed to Boston. William T. Hollis, as 
already mentioned in connection with the Bradford tavern, 
was the son of Henry and Deborah (Leonard) Hollis, and was 
born in Plymouth in 1826. He was jointly with Thomas 
Prince, proprietor and editor of the Old Colony Memorial 
from 1861 to 1863, and of the Memorial and Rock after the 
Memorial was consolidated with the Plymouth Rock, jointly 
with Thomas Prince and George F. Andrews, from 1863 to 
1864. He died unmarried at the Plymouth Rock Hotel only a 
few years ago. Southworth Barnes, son of William and 
Mercy (Carver) Barnes, was born in Plymouth, and married 
in 1833, Lucy, daughter of John and Lydia (Mason) Burbank. 
After his death, which occurred October 29, 1861, his store 
was taken by Stevens Mason Burbank, nephew of his wife, 
who married in 1851, Cornelia, daughter of Samuel and Re- 
becca (Bradford) Doten. The rooms over the stores in the 
building in question were occupied by various persons at vari- 
ous times for miscellaneous purposes. Among the occupants 



l80 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

were the Plymouth Anti-Slavery Society, Thomas May, Ben- 
jamin F. Field and Abel D. Breed, tailors, Benjamin Hatha- 
way, manufacturer of neck stocks, Clary and Burr, barbers, 
Dr. Sanborn, dentist, the Plymouth Free Press, newspaper, 
P. T. Denney, and N. A. T. Jones, tailors, Thomas B. Drew 
and Thomas D. Shumway, dentists. 

The occupant of the next house from 1828 to 1837 was Dan- 
iel Gale, a tailor whose shop on the other side of Main street 
has been already mentioned. He was a son of Noah and Re- 
becca Gale, but where he was born and when, I do not know. 
He married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Winslow of Dux- 
bury, and probably about 1837 moved away from Plymouth, as 
I find no record of his death. Like all men in his line of bus- 
iness in localities too small for keeping an assortment of cloth, 
he was only a tailor, and not a draper. Customers furnished 
their own cloth, and by an unwritten law the tailor was entitled 
to the remnants from which in time considerable profit accrued. 
These remnants were universally, in Plymouth at least, called 
cabbage. Hence the word cabbage as applied in the sense of 
stealing or, to use a milder phrase, of taking possession of. 
Mr. Gale, after a residence of some years in Plymouth, built the 
block of houses between Sandwich street and the Mill pond, 
which in my boyhood was known as Gale's Cabbage, implying 
that it was built from the profits of his remnants. 

Another house somewhat pretentious in style, received a 
name suggested by a practice more reprehensible than one 
which custom permitted. The owner was often em.ployed as 
a surveyor to run out large lots of woodland into smaller lots 
for sale. In doing this work certain strips and gores of land 
would be omitted, and in time sold as his own. The house 
took the name of Strips and Gores, as having been built 
from the proceeds of these sales. I mention neither the house 
nor the name of its owner, because like many other stories, the 
charge may have no foundation in fact, and I have no desire to 
taint his memory. The next occupant of the house in ques- 
tion was Dr. Levi Hubbard, the brother of our townsman, Dr. 
Benjamin Hubbard, and father of Hervey N. P. Hubbard, the 
librarian of the Pilgrim Society. He was succeeded in 1841 
by John Washburn, who occupied a hardware and tin shop on 
the street floor and the tenement above, many years. Harlow 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. l8l 

& Barnes, a firm engaged in the same business, consisting of 
John C. Barnes and Samuel Harlow, succeeded Mr. Wash- 
burn, and were themselves succeeded by Harlow & Bailey, 
the firm consisting of Samuel Harlow and H. Porter Bailey, 
and by H. P. Bailey & Bro., the predecessors of the firm now 
occupying it. 

Dr. Levi Hubbard, son of Benjamin and Polly (Walker) 
Hubbard, was born in Holden, Mass., and after graduating at 
the medical college of Pittsfield, settled in Medfield, whence he 
moved to Plymouth in 1839, and occupied the house in question 
until May 29, 1841, when he moved to the north side of Town 
Square. In January, 1844, in consequence of a fire in the 
house he occupied on the square, he removed to the house 
above the town house, where he remained until November, 
1844, when he removed to New Bedford. From New Bedford 
he went to Chicopee, and in 1849 to California in the ship Ed- 
ward Everett, sailing from Boston. Returning in 1851 after 
short residences in Dutchess and Saratoga counties in New 
York State, he removed to Iowa, and died in Glenwood in that 
state in 1886. He married in 1837, Luzilla, daughter of Rog- 
er Haskell of Peru, Mass., and his son, Hervey N. P. Hub- 
bard was born in the house under consideration, in 1839. 

The site of the house next porth of the store of Bailey Bros, 
is memorable as the site of the Bunch of Grapes Inn m the mid- 
dle of the eighteenth century. 

The house now standing was built by Joseph Avery, a book- 
seller and book binder, who had branch establishments in Wor- 
cester and Portland. In school book binding his concerns 
were extensive and profitable. He came to Plymouth in 1807, 
and up to 1816 occupied for his business one of the one story 
buildings on the east side of Main street already referred to. 
On the 29th of July, 1822, while superintending the erection 
of the building he incautiously stepped on a loose board and fell 
from the upper story to the street floor, suffering injuries 
which resulted in his death on the fourth of the following 
month at the age of forty-two years. In 1826 the house was 
sold to Dr. Zacheus Bartlett, who occupied it both for his busi- 
ness and home until his death, which occurred December 25, 
1835. Dr. Bartlett was born in South Plymouth, September 
20, 1768, and graduated at Harvard in 1789. He studied 



1 82 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

medicine with Dr. Ezekiel Hersey of Hingham, 
and settled in his native town. He served his fel- 
low citizens as their Representative in the General Court one or 
more years, was one of the founders of the Pilgrim Society, 
and its vice-president from 1828 to 1835, and by invitation of 
the Town, delivered the oration on the Pilgrim anniversary in 
1798. He married in 1796 Hannah, daughter of Samuel and 
Experience (Atwood) Jackson, and up to the time of his occu- 
pancy of the Main street house lived in a house on North street, 
easterly of the house now occupied by Miss Lydia Jackson. 
All through my boyhood there was a one story building in the 
southeast corner of the yard which I have always supposed was 
his office. As I remember the house it was still owned by Dr. 
Bartlett, and occupied by various tenants, and the office build- 
ing was occupied by Thomas Maglathlin, who lived alone. Dr. 
Bartlett had four children, Sydney, the eminent lawyer who 
married Caroline Louisa Pratt of Boston, and for many years 
was recognized as the leader of the Boston bar ; Margaret, who 
married Dr. Winslow Warren, Dr. George Bartlett of Boston, 
who married Amelia, a daughter of Dr. Wm. Pitt Greenwood 
of Boston, and Caroline, who married James Pratt of Boston. 
It is worthy of mention that three Plymouth men, Richard 
Warren, George Bartlett and Charles L. Hayward, married 
daughters of Dr. Wm. Pitt Greenwood. The occupation of 
this building by John T. Hall and others, is too recent to re- 
quire notice. John T. Hall, son of Eber and Elizabeth (Bur- 
gess) Hall, was born in Plymouth and married in 1843 Betsey, 
daughter of Joab Thomas, and at various times kept a barber 
shop, a fancy goods store and engaged in insurance business. 
The occupation of the site on which the store of George 
Gooding stands with a tenement over it, possesses unusual in- 
terest. About the year 1750 James Shurtlefif built a house on 
the site which in 1789 came into the possession of Caleb Leach, 
who came to Plymouth from Bridgewater and projected the 
Plymouth water works, the first water works built in the 
United States. The company was chartered in 1796, the year 
after a company was chartered in Wilkesbarre, Penn., but the 
Plymouth works were constructed before the works of that 
town. The pipes were yellow or swamp pine logs, ten to 
twelve feet long, and ten inches in diameter, clear of sap, with 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 183 

a bore from two to four inches in diameter, and sharpened at 
one end, the other end bound with an iron hoop to prevent spHt- 
ting when driven into the bore. During the latter years of the 
company iron connections with a flange in the middle were 
used. 

In 1800 the house came into the possession of Asa Hall, who 
came from Boston, and fitted up its lower room for a watch- 
maker's shop. From that time to this, a period of one hundred 
and six years the site has been identified with the watch mak- 
ing business. In 1802 John Gooding, who came to Plymouth 
from Taunton, succeeded Mr. Hall in the shop, and in 1805 
married Deborah, daughter of Benjamin Barnes. In the next 
year Mr. Barnes bought the house, and his son-in-law, Mr. 
Gooding, continued to occupy it, finally receiving in 1836 a 
deed of the property from Mr. Barnes. Not many years after 
Mr. Gooding obtained possession, he took down the old house 
and built the present one. I remember the old house well. 
The shop door was divided across the middle, the lower part 
wood, the upper part glass, and in suitable weather, the upper 
part was swung back. The other doors which I remember like 
this, were in the harness shop of Barnabas Otis on the south 
side of Summer street, the second or third above Spring street, 
the office of Dr. Amariah Preston, next north of the Gooding 
house, in the old house where Davis building now stands, and 
in the Solomon Churchill shop on the east side of Main street. 
Mr. Gooding was the son of Joseph and Rebecca (Alacomber) 
Gooding of Taunton, and was born in 1780. His father was a 
watchmaker, and he had at least one, and I think two brothers, 
who followed the same trade. His brother Josiah and nephew 
Josiah, kept within my recollection a watchmaker's and jewel- 
ler's store in Joy's building on Washington street, in Boston, 
many years. A member of one of the branches of Jos. Good- 
ing's family, Mr. A. W. B. Gooding, married Mary Woodward 
Barnes, a daughter of Bradford Barnes. Mr. Gooding was a 
member of the Board of Selectmen from 1825 to 1831, inclus- 
ive, a Director of the Plymouth Bank from 1839 to 1865, in- 
clusive, and died September 25, 1870, at the age of ninety years. 
He had seven children, Deborah Barnes, who married Aurin 
Bugbee, John, 1808, who married Betsey H., daughter of Eph- 
raim Morton, and became a well known master of the Bark 



184 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Yeoman, William, 1810, who married Lydia Ann, daughter of 
Putnam Kimball, Benjamin Barnes, 1813, who married Har- 
riet, daughter of Charles Goodwin, Eliza Ann, 1818, who mar- 
ried Orin F, Alderman, George Barnes, who married 
Eliza Merrill of Concord, N. H., and James Bug- 
bee, 1823, who married first, 1851, Almira T., daughter of 
Henry Morton of Plymouth, and second, Rhoda Ann White of 
Worcester. Benjamin Barnes Gooding succeeded his father 
in business in the same store, and died June 28, 1900, at the age 
of 87. Two sons of Benjamin Barnes Gooding, Benjamin W. 
and George, succeeded their father and continued until the 
spring of 1905, when their partnership was dissolved, George 
continuing in the business. Tlius for 103 years, three genera- 
tions of the Gooding family have carried on the business of 
watch making on the same site, and as Earl W. Gooding, the 
son of George, has become associated with his father, it may 
with some degree of certainty be predicted that a fourth gen- 
eration will continue the business. What I have said does not 
tell the whole story. James Bugbee, the youngest son of John 
Gooding, learned the watchmaker's trade, and established him- 
self in Worcester, finally becoming connected with the Wal- 
tham watch factory. His ingenuity and skill soon gave him a 
leading position in that concern and improvements invented by 
him in watchmaking machinery for which numerous patents 
were secured, enabled him to leave at his death a substantial 
property for his widow and son, who are still living. The up- 
per part of the building in question is occupied by Dr. E. E, 
Fuller. 

The next house is occupied by two stores and a tenement. 
As long ago as I can remember, the small store now occupied 
by Mr. Loring as a watchmaker's shop, was the office of Dr. 
Amariah Preston, the father of Dr. Hervey N. Preston, pre- 
viously mentioned. Dr. Preston was born February 5, 1758, 
and entered the army in 1777. After the war he lived a short 
time in Uxbridge, Mass., and Ashford, Conn., and then remov- 
ed to Dighton, Mass., to learn a trade. In 1785 he began the 
study of medicine, and in 1790 settled in Bedford, where he 
married October 18, in that year, Hannah Read, and second, 
May 15, 1796, Ruhamah Lane. After practising in Bedford 
forty-three years, he removed in 1833 to Plymouth, and occu- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 1 85 

pied the office in question. He practised in Plymouth until 
1845, eight years after the death of his son, and in that year at 
the age of 87 went to Billerica to live with another son, ]\Iar- 
shall Preston, and finally removed with him to Lexington, 
where he died, October 29, 1853, at the age of ninety-five. I 
remember well the kindly manner of the old gentleman when 
I went frequently to his shop to buy gamboge to paint the pict- 
ures in my geography. 

After the departure of Dr. Preston from Plymouth in 1845, 
his office was taken by Dr. Samuel Merritt, who has been al- 
ready noticed in connection with the exodus to California in 
1849. After the removal of Dr. Merritt to the Union Hall 
building, after its erection in 1848, Dr. Ervin Webster succeed- 
ed to the office and occupied it until his sad death, and that of 
his son, Olin E. Webster by drowning in Billington Sea, Au- 
gust 28, 1856. Since that time the office has been occupied 
by Charles C. Doten, Ichabod Carver, Edward W. Atwood, 
Benjamin H. Crandon, Sarah ^Morton Holmes, and B. D. 
Loring, its present tenant. 

The store on the north corner of the building was taken by 
Bartlett Ellis, for the sale of fancy goods, and for a circulating 
library, after he gave up his shoe store on the corner of Middle 
street in 1831, and was occupied by him many years. His suc- 
cessors m the store I think, have been a ^.Irs. Richards, and the 
present occupant, iSIiss F. F. Simmons both in the millinery 
business. 

The tenement above the stores was occupied until 1831 by 
John Churchill, and after his death, George Churchill, his son, 
sold the building to Thomas Burgess Bartlett, who occupied it 
imtil his recent death. Thomas Burgess Bartlett married Be- 
thiah, a daughter of John Churchill, while Bartlett Ellis, the oc- 
cupant of the store, married in 1821 for his second wife, Han- 
nah, another daughter of Mr. Churchill, 

During my boyhood the house which stood on the site of the 
Plymouth Savings Bank, was occupied by two brothers, Thom- 
as and William Jackson, substantial merchants for many years, 
Thomas occupying the southerly part, and William, the north- 
erly. Thomas, called Thomas, Jr., born in 1757, was the son 
of Thomas and Sarah (Taylor) Jackson, and married in 1788 
Sally May. They had three children, Thomas, Edwin and 



l86 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Sarah, but I have no recollection of any child in their family. 
He was one of the founders of the Plymouth Bank in 1803, and 
a subscriber for thirty shares of stock, and was a director from 
1826 until his death, August 8, 1837. William Jackson, known 
as Major Jackson from his rank in the militia, was born in 
1763, and married in 1788, Anna, daughter of David Barnes of 
Scituate, and had Francis Leonard in 1789, who married Sam- 
uel Maynard, Leavitt Taylor, 1790, and David Barnes, 1794. 
He married second in 1795, Mercy, daughter of John 
and Mercy (Foster) Russell, and had Frederick William, 
1798, Anna, 1799, and William R., 1801. He married third 
in 1804, widow Esther (Phillips) Parsons. Mr. Jackson was 
one of the founders of the Plymouth Bank, a subscriber for 
twenty-seven shares of stock, and a director from 1803 to 181 5, 
and again from 1827 to 1836. He died in Plymouth, October 
22, 1836. 

There was a vacant lot belonging to the Messrs. Jackson 
with two cellars, the remains of houses taken down long before 
my remembrance, and in the Jackson yard there was a Jackson 
apple tree, from which in season apples would fall upon a shed 
and roll into the vacant lot, and in recess there was a race to 
capture such apples as might have fallen during school hours. 
What has been the fate of the Jackson apple trees of my youth, 
and where have they gone? It was a red, juicy, early summer 
apple, a fit prize for the race, and where have the queen apple 
trees gone, only one of which is left in Plymouth. That in the 
yard of Wm. Rider Drew was cut down during the last year, 
leaving the one in the yard of Mrs. Lothrop, solitary and 
alone. And where are the June Eatings, a name corrupted in- 
to Jenitons, of which I think there is only one left in the yard 
of Miss Lydia Jackson in North street. And I must not for- 
get those favorites with the boys, the button pears. Not espec- 
ially prized by their owners we boys were permitted to take all 
we could find on the ground. With our trouser's pockets 
bulging with the little fellows, we would find our way to school, 
little suspecting that we were paying dearly for ll-iem in the 
cost of a doctor's visit, and a dose of picra. 

In the vacant lot above mentioned, the most conspicuous feat- 
tire was a large sty in which Major Jackson kept his hogs. So 
far from such appurtenance being considered a nuisance in 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. l8y^ 

those days, a family without one or more hogs was an excep- 
tion. In earlier times they were permitted to run at large, 
though not within my day in Plymouth, but it may surprise 
my younger readers to know that in New York and Washing- 
ton, as late as the civil war, they roved about the streets as 
freely as dogs. As late as 1721 it was voted by the inhabitants 
of Plymouth that they might run at large that year if properly 
ringed and yoked, and hog constables were annually chosen to 
see that the condition was complied with. The custom of 
keeping hogs was so universal in my day that perhaps a dozen 
times during the season a dealer would buy in the Brighton 
market a drove of hogs and drive them home over the road, 
selling them on the way. When a sale was made the drivers 
would tie the four legs of the hog and raise it to a pair of steel- 
yards, hanging from a bar supported by their shoulders, and 
thus find the weight. While this operation was going on the 
drove would roam at their own sweet will, nosing up the gut- 
ters and sidewalks in every direction. I remember James Rug- 
gles of Rochester, the donor to the county of the fountain in 
front of the Court house, and Swift, one of the members 
of the firm of pork packers in Chicago, driving their hogs 
from house to house. Until a very recent date, more in 
deference to an old custom, than to any necessity, hog-reeves 
were chosen each year by the town, and recently married 
grooms were selected for the honor. 

The occupants of the house in question after the Jacksons 
were. Madam ]\Iary Warren and Wm. F. Peterson, in the 
southerly part, and Susan, Sarah and Deborah L. Turner, 
daughters of Lothrop Turner, and Miss Deborah L. 
Turner, Dr. Alexander Jackson, and Hannah D. Washburn, 
milliners, and Sarah M. Holmes and Mrs. Charles Camp- 
bell, in the northerly part, until the house was taken down, 
and the present building was erected in 1887, the occupants of 
which are now the Old Colony National Bank, Plymouth Sav- 
ing's Bank, the Black & White Club, Dr. Schubert and Dr. 
Lothrop, and the Natural History Society. After the Jack- 
son house came into the posession of the Savings Bank, a one 
story building was erected on the northerly line of 
the lot, which was occupied at various times by the Public 
Library, and by Arthur Lord and Albert Mason, attorneys- 



I05 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

at-law, and finally removed to the Hathaway land on Aliddle 
street. 

Before speaking of the occupants of the two houses which 
stood north of the vacant lot on which the Bank building 
was erected in 1842, I will state that in 1851 a slice fifteen or 
twenty feet deep was cut from the two lots, including the 
front yard of the Thomas house, now the Plymouth Tavern, 
and enough from the lot south of it to make the present line 
to which Davis building when soon after erected, was made 
to conform. As long ago as I can remember, the old house 
which stood on the site of Davis building was occupied by 
Timothy Goodwin, a tinman by trade, who occupied for his 
tinshop the upper story of a projection in the rear of the 
main building. I have an impression that he was club footed, 
and that he had two sons older than myself, who with their 
father must have moved from Plymouth not far from the 
year, 1835. 

The old fashioned tinman's trade which flourished in Mr. 
Goodwin's day when all the tinware in use was made in the 
local shops, has practically disappeared, leaving only the man- 
ufacture of hot air furnace pipes to remind us of the resonant 
clatter of a tinshop once so familiar to the ear. Mr. Good- 
win was born in 1779, and was the son of Timothy Goodwin, 
Avho came from Charlestown and married Lucy, daughter of 
Abie! Shurtlefif of Plymouth. His father, who was associa- 
ted with the earliest postal system of Plymouth, deserves a 
passing notice. Up to 1775 no post ofiice had ever been es- 
tablished in Plymouth, and at that time there were only 
seventy- five post offices in the colonies, and eighteen hundred 
and seventy-five miles of post routes. In the above year Ben- 
jamin Franklin was appointed Postmaster General, and on the 
1 2th of May William Watson was appointed postmaster of 
Plymouth, and in 1790 was commissioned by Washington. 
On the appointment of Mr. Watson in 1775, a horseback mail 
route was established from Cambridge to Falmouth, through 
Plymouth, and Timothy Goodwin and Joseph Howland were 
appointed post riders, making the trip down and back once in 
each week. They left Cambridge Monday noon, and arrived 
at Plymouth at four o'clock, Tuesday afternoon; and leaving 
Plymouth at nine o'clock Wednesday morning, reached Sand- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 189 

wich at four o'clock on that day, and Falmouth at eight o'clock 
Thursday morning. Goodwin and Rowland divided the 
route, making the exchange at Plymouth. 

Until 1816 the rate of postage remained unchanged as fol- 
lows : for a single letter under forty miles, eight cents ; under 
ninety miles, ten cents ; under one hundred and fifty miles, 
tw^elve and a half cents ; under three hundred miles, seventeen 
cents ; under five hundred miles, twenty cents ; over five hun- 
dred miles, twenty-five cents. In 1816 the rate was fixed for 
a single letter not over thirty miles, six and a quarter cents, 
over thirty miles and under eighty, ten cents ; over eighty 
and under one hundred and fifty, twelve and a half cents; 
over one hundred and fifty, and under four hundred, eighteen 
and three quarters cents; over four hundred, twenty-five 
cents, with an added rate for every additional piece of paper, 
and if the letter weighed an ounce, the rate was four times 
the above. The newspaper rate fixed at the same time was 
one cent under one hundred miles, or within the sta.te; over 
one hundred miles, and out of the state, one and a half cents, 
magazines and pamphlets one and a half cent a sheet under 
one hundred miles, if periodicals, two and a half cents a sheet 
over one hundred miles, but if not prepaid, four and five cents. 

The above was the rate of the postage during my youth, and 
imtil I was twenty-three years of age, when srradual reduc- 
tions began to be made, the result of which has been the postal 
rates as they stand today. The rates above mentioned indi- 
cate the kind of currency prevailing at the time. Articles on 
sale were priced at so many cents, or a four-pence happenny 
(six and a quarter cents), nine pence (twelve and a half 
cents.) a shilling (sixteen and two-thirds cents) a quarter of 
a dollar, two and three pence (thirty-seven and a half cents) 
a half a dollar, three and nine pence (or sixty-two and a half 
cents) four and six pence (or seventy-five cents) and so on 
to a dollar. Finally ^Mexican coins were eliminated from our 
currency, and the genuine American decimal coinage exclu- 
sively prevailed. Until the year 1855, prepayment was op- 
tional, but with the introduction of postage stamps, prepay- 
ment was required, and when after the establishment of ex- 
presses, it was found that they engaged in the carriage of let- 
ters the practice was forbidden unless the letters were stamp- 



igO PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

ed. If under the old system letters were not prepaid, it was 
by no means unusual for persons to whom they were address- 
ed, to refuse to receive them and pay the high postage due. 
It goes without saying that persons known to be going to 
Boston or New York were pretty well loaded, as I have often 
been with letters to be delivered not only to friends, but also to 
men in business. 

If cheap postage is a blessing, it may be doubted whether it 
is an unalloyed one. As one of its penalties, letter writing 
has become a lost art. A three-line note or a postal card, or 
what is worse, a dictation by a stenographer from which the 
last vestige of communion of friend with friend is completely 
extinguished, has taken the place of the welcome epistles 
which our grandmothers and aunts wrote with care, and filled 
full not only with gossip and family news, but also with in- 
structive comments on events of the day. How mvich future 
readers will lose by the absence of such volumes of corre- 
spondence as have graced our literature during the last hun- 
dred years ! 

In connection with letters it may be well enough to say for 
the benefit of my young readers that until 1840 envelopes were 
unknown, and letters were universally folded and sealed eith- 
er with sealing wax or wafers. 

There was an expression of deliberation and composure in- 
vesting such correspondence which is lost in the correspon- 
dence of today. Now and then some impecunious person 
found sealing wax and even wafers unnecessarily extravagant. 
I was told many years ago by a man who called on the late 
Joshua Sears who left his millions to a son, recentlv deceased, 
that he found him splitting wafers. Since the days of envel- 
opes I have known an officer of one of our institutions to save 
all his letters, and turn the envelopes for future use. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN, I9I 



CHAPTER XX. 

William Watson, the first postmaster of Plymouth, was 
the son of John and Priscilla (Thomas) Watson, and 
was bom in Plymouth, ]\Iay 6, 1730, and graduated 
at Harvard in 175 1. In addition to the office of post- 
master, he was appointed in 1782 naval officer for the port of 
Plymouth, and in 1789 he was comimissioned collector by 
Washington. In 1803 he was removed by Jeflferson from 
both the office of postmaster and collector, and died April 22, 
181 5. In 1765 he bought the lot of land in Court street, on 
which the Old Colony Club house stands, and there can be no 
doubt that he built the house now standing, and occupied it 
until his death. After the death of Mr. Watson, the estate 
was bought by my grandfather, \\^illiam Davis, and occupied 
by my uncle, N'athaniel Morton Davis from the time of his 
marriage in 1817 until his death, when its occupancy passed 
to his son. Col. Wm. Davis. 

The story of the life of the mother of Wm. Watson is full 
of romantic interest. She was Priscilla Thomas, a daughter 
of Caleb and Priscilla (Capen) Thomas of Marshfield. She 
became engaged to X'oah Hobart, a divinity student, who was 
at the time teaching scnool in Duxbury. John Watson of 
Plymouth, who had married in 171 5, Sarah, daughter of Dan- 
iel Rogers of Ipswich, lost his wife, and not knowing of the 
engagement of Miss Thomas, made through her father, an of- 
fer of marriage. As Mr. Watson was a man of high stand- 
ing and abundant means, Mr. Thomas was favorably im- 
pressed by the offer, and said that he would consult his wife 
and daughter. A family council was held, into which Mr. 
Hobart was called, and it was finally decided with the assent 
of Mr. Hobart, who was ready to make any sacrifice to secure 
a happy establishment for life for one whom he sincerely loved, 
to accept Mr. Watson's offer. Thus with a tearful parting 
two loving hearts were separated apparently forever. In 
1729 John Watson and Priscilla Thomas were married, and 
the first act of a new romance of John and Priscilla was per- 



192 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

formed. In 1732 'Sir. Watson died, and at that time his son, 
Elkanah, was a nursing infant. At about the same time 
the wife of Isaac Lothrop died, leaving also a nursing infant. 
As the families were intimate, Airs. Watson offered to nurse 
Mrs. Lothrop's infant with her own. The natural conse- 
quence of the family relations was an ofifer of marriage from 
Mr. Lothrop, which was unhesitatingly accepted. The al- 
liance was an eligible one. Mr. Lothrop was one of the Jus- 
tices of the Court, and was possessed of a large estate. The 
marriage took place in 1733, and he died April 26, 1750, hav- 
ing by a life illustrating the highest qualities of the human 
character deserved the following inscription on his grave- 
stone : 

"Had virtue's charms the power to save 
lis faithful votaries from the grave, 
This stone had ne'er possessed the fame 
Of being marked with Lothrop's name." 

In the meantime it may be interesting to learn what had 
become of Noah Hobart, the old time lover. He in due tinje 
entered the ministry, and was settled over the church in Fair- 
field, Conn. Though he had never held communication with 
Priscilla by letter or otherwise, by the wireless ways which 
lovers have, he had kept himself informed of the varied 
scenes in her life. He knew of the death of her first husband, 
and her second marriage, as well as the two families of chil- 
dren which had grown up around her. He had heard also of 
the death of her second husband, while with a wife and two 
children of his own, a veil not wholly impenetrable obscured 
the remembrance of his early days. About seven years after 
the death of Mr. Lothrop her second husband, the wife of 
Mr. Hobart died, and after a becoming period of mourning, 
his old love, which time had not obliterated, speedily revived 
at the thought that both he and his early love were free. 
Without delay he, as was the fashion of the time, drove in 
his chaise to Plymouth, and presented himself as suitor at 
the Lothrop mansion. It is unnecessary to disclose the inter- 
view. A further sacrifice was needed before in the fullness 
of time God should join together whom man had put asunder. 
She had promised her husband on his death bed that as long 
as his mother lived, then eighty years of age, she would like 
a real daughter care for her and promote her happiness. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. I93 

Again there was a parting which seemed to be one forever. 
On his way home Mr. Hobart stopped over night with his 
friend, Rev. Mr. Shute of Hingham, and attended with him 
the next day a religious service in the church held every 
Thursday, which was sometimes called the Thursday lecture, 
and sometimes the Preparatory lecture. On their way home 
from church a friend passed them on horseback, who said that 
he had ridden from Plymouth. In answer to the inquiry for 
news in the old town he said that just as he left he was told 
that old Mrs. Lothrop was found dead in her bed that morn- 
ing. It is needless to say that the continuance of the journey 
to Fairfield was postponed, and a return to Plymouth was 
made. After the funeral and a due publication of the bans, 
the marriage took place under date of 1758, and the seven- 
teen years which she passed in Fairfield with her third hus- 
band, were the happiest years of her life. Mr. Hobart died 
in 1775, and she returned to Plymouth, where the remainder 
of her days was spent until her death, June 23, 1796, in the 
90th year of her age. 

John Sloss Hobart, son of Rev. Noah Hobart, by his first 
wife, became United States Senator from New York, and his 
daughter, Ellen, married Nathaniel Lothrop, a son of Mrs. 
Hobart by her second husband, Isaac Lothrop. 

Returning to the old house where Davis building stands, 
of which in my wanderings I have almost lost sight, its later 
occupants whom I can remember were Capt. Woodward, the 
driver for many years of the Boston mail stage, his son-in- 
law Bradford Barnes, John R. Davis and George Churchill, 
All of these except Mr. Davis have been noticed in other 
chapters. Mr. Davis was a ropemaker by trade, but when the 
Robbins Cordage Company discontinued work he sought 
other means of livelihood, chiefly that of restaurant keeper. 
He was a good man, of a deeply religious spirit, who carried 
his religion into every day life. He not only believed in the 
fatherhood of God, but also in the brotherhood of man. It 
would have been impossible to provoke him to the utterance 
of an angry or unkind word, and his kindly words often ap- 
peared more kind with the touch of humor in which they 
were uttered. His kindness of heart and gentleness of speech, 
and his humor as well, were illustrated when a man after 



194 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

eating at his lunch counter left without paying. Instead of 
running out to the sidewalk and calling out to the man in the 
hearing of passers-by "to come back and pay his bill," he 
said in the mildest tone of voice, "Mr., did I give you the 
right change?" 

The house now occupied as a public house, and called the 
Plymouth Tavern, was for many years identified with the 
family of Joshua Thomas. He bought the house in 1786, and 
occupied it until his death, January 10, 1821. He married in 
1786 Isabella Stevenson, of Boston, who continued to occupy 
it until her death. Few families displayed more earnest pa- 
triotism than the family to which he belonged. His father, 
Dr. William Thomas, born in Boston in 1718, practised medi- 
cine in Plymouth many years, and died September 20, 1802. 
He was on the medical stafl: in the expedition against Louis- 
burg in 1745, and at Crown Point in 1758. He had four sons 
born in Plymouth, Joshua, Joseph, Nathaniel and John. 
Joshua was born in 1751, and graduated at Harvard in 1772. 
After some time spent in teaching, and in theological studies, 
he became especially interested in public affairs, and in 1774 
was adjutant of a regiment of militia organized in Plymouth 
County, in view of the threatening war clouds appearing 
above the horizon. In 1776 he served on the staff of General 
John Thomas on the Canadian expedition, in which General 
Thomas died, and soon after returned home where he studied 
law, and henceforth devoted himself to his profession. Hav- 
ing served as a member of the committee of correspondence 
and as Representative and Senator, he was appointed in 1792 
Judge of Probate, and continued in office until his death. He 
was also President of the Plymouth and Norfolk counties 
Bible Society, the first president of the Pilgrim Society, 
and Moderator of town meetings twenty-eight years. 
He lay on his bed of death during the celebration of Decem- 
ber 22, 1820, when Daniel Webster delivered the oration, and 
John Watson was selected to preside on that occasion. Judge 
Thomas had three sons, John Boies, 1787, William, 1788, and 
Joshua Barker, 1797. John Boies graduated at Harvard in 
1806, and married Mary, daughter of Isaac LeBaron. He 
was a member of the bar, a member of the Board of Select- 
men, from 1 83 1 to 1840, inclusive, moderator of town meet- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



195 



ings from 1829 to 1841, inclusive, President of the Old Col- 
ony Bank and Clerk of the Plymouth County Courts from 
181 1 to his death, December 2, 1852. William Thomas, the 
second son of Joshua, graduated at Harvard in 1807, and was 
at the time of his death, September 20, 1882, the oldest living 
graduate. He practiced law in Plymouth, was in 1852 sheriff 
of the county, and married in 18 16 Sally W., daughter of 
John Sever of Kingston. Joshua Barker, the youngest son of 
Joshua, was also a member of the bar, but never practised. 
Though not fitted by temperament for the labors of his pro- 
fession, he was a man of culture, and a conversationalist, 
whom it was always agreeable to meet. Much younger than 
his brothers, he was always an indulged and petted son. I 
heard when I was young of an amusing effort to send him 
to a boarding school. His father and mother, with great re- 
luctance, and only from a sense of duty, decided to send him 
to a school known as the Wing school in Sandwich. So they 
started one morning with their boy in a chaise, and a trunk 
strapped to the axle. After leaving him in the hands of Mr. 
Wing they regretfully bade him goodbye and left for home. 
They drove into their yard, landing at the rear door, and 
going into the house, found Joshua sitting by the fire, having 
ridden home on the axle and entered the house at the front 
door before them. They were overjoyed to see him, and 
embraced him with as much fervor as if he had returned 
from a long term at school. He died in Plymouth unmar- 
ried, March 7, 1873. 

After the death of the widow of Judge Thomas, the house 
was occupied for some years by Allen and S. D. Ballard as 
an eating saloon, with lodging rooms to let. The Ballards 
were succeeded by Mr. Holbrook, and under the name of the 
Central House it was occupied by Charles H. Snell. Mr. 
Huntoon and Mr. Mclntire and St. George and Manley E. 
Dodge followed, who were succeeded by Mr. Shaw, Mr. 
Minchen, and Bruce and Abbot Jones followed, and then 
Jones alone, who was succeeded by McCarthy and Buckman, 
and the recent proprietor, Mr. McCarthy. The name was 
changed to Plymouth Tavern by Mr. Bruce. Joseph Thomas, 
a brother of Judge Joshua Thomas, born in 1755, was in the 
early part of the revolutiofi a Lieutenant of Artillery, and later, 



196 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Captain and Major. He died in Plymouth unmarried, Aug. 
19, 1838. Nathaniel, another brother, born in 1756, was a Cap- 
tain in the revolution, and died in Plymouth, March 22, 1838. 
He married in 1781 Priscilla Shaw, and second in 1796, Jane 
(Downs) widow of Isaac Jackson. John, a third brother ot 
Judge Joshua Thomas, born in 1758, was on the medical 
staff during the revolution, and after the war settled in 
Poughkeepsie. Some of his descendants are living in Cleve- 
land, Ohio. 

As long ago as I can remember the house next to the store 
of Moore Bros., on the north was occupied by Benjamin 
Marston Watson, and was built by him on a vacant lot in 
1811. He was a son of John and Lucia (Marston) Watson, 
born in 1774, and married in 1804 Lucretia Burr, daughter of 
Jonathan Sturges of Fairfield, Conn. His only children re- 
membered by me were Lucretia Ann, who married Rev. 
Hersey B. Goodwin, and was the mother of Professor Wil- 
liam Watson Goodwin of Cambridge; and Benjamin Marston. 
His son, Benjamin Marston Watson, born January 17, 1820, 
graduated at Harvard in 1839, and married in 1846, Mary, 
daughter of Thomas Russell, and died February 19, 1896. 
Pie was a lovable man, whose companionship I prized ; a man 
of culture, who enjoyed the friendship of Emerson and Al- 
cott and Thoreau ; a man in whose presence ordinary ambi- 
tions appeared insignificant and mean ; a lover of nature with 
its fruits and flowers, who received in return from nature's 
hand congenial occupation and support. 

Mr. Watson, senior, was a merchant in Plymouth, Presi- 
dent of the Plymouth Aqueduct Company, one of the found- 
ers of the Pilgrim Society, and for many years its recording 
secretary. He was also chosen treasurer of the Plymouth 
institution for savings at the time of its organization in 1828, 
but declined a re-election in 1829. As a boy I remember him 
well looking over into the trench of the aqueduct and clean- 
ing perch at a South Pond picnic and putting wood on the 
parlor fire, in doing which he had a way inherited by his son 
of standing with his limbs straight from feet to hips, and his 
body at a sharp angle straight from hips to head without a 
lounge or a bend. He died while on a visit to Fairfield, Nov- 
ember 10, 1835. In 1845 his widow sold the house to Wil- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. I97 

Ham Thomas, who has been already noticed, and it is now 
owned and occupied by his grandchildren, children of Wil- 
liam H. Whitman, who married his daughter Ann. 

Captain William Bartlett, whose widow occvipies the next 
house, has been already noticed in connection with the loss 
of the bark, Charles Bartlett, of which he was master. The 
house has, however, other interesting associations. In the 
middle of the eighteenth century it was owned and occupied 
by Ansel Lothrop. Mar}^ Lothrop, daughter of Ansel, had a 
son born in the house, who received the name of his father, 
Elkanah Cushman, and was brought up and educated by him. 
The son was at one time engaged in business as a member of 
the Boston firm of Cushman & Toplifife, and lived in various 
places in Charlestown, and in the north end of Boston. 
Among his places of residence was a wooden house on Rich- 
mond street, now called Parmenter street, between Hanover, 
and Salem streets, and there Charlotte Cushman, his daughter, 
was bom, July 23, 1816. It is a little singular that John Gibbs 
Gilbert, the distinguished actor, should have been born six 
years before in an adjacent house. Mr. Cushman attended 
with his family the Second Church on Hanover street, be- 
tween Richmond and North Bennet streets, of which Henry 
Ware, Jr., Ralph Waldo Emerson and Chandler Robbins 
were pastors before new places of worship were found in Bed- 
ford street, and finally in Copley Square. The site of the 
Cushman house is now occupied by a school house erected in 
1866, and named after the distinguished actress, the "Cush- 
man School." Miss Cushman early displayed creditable vocal 
talent, and was one of the choir in the Second Church. On 
Thursday evening, March 25, 1830, she appeared at a concert 
given at No. i Franklin avenue, by Mr. G. Farmer, her music 
teacher, when she sung, "Take this Rose," "Oh, merry row 
the bonny bark just parting from the shore," and "Farewell, 
my love." Until 1835 she continued to sing in church, and 
in April of that year, while J. G. Maeder and his wife, who 
was Clara Fisher, were producing English opera at the Tre- 
mont Theatre, the contralto fell ill, and Miss Cushman was 
selected to sing the Countess Almaviva in Mozart's "Mar- 
riage of Figaro" in her place. The next part she sang under 
the Maeders was Lucy Bertram in "Guy Mannering," and 



198 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

thus she was early brought into association with the dramati- 
zation, in which she became famous. Being shortly after- 
wards engaged to sing in English operas in New Orleans, 
she made a sea voyage to that city, during which, as I have 
always heard, she lost her voice in consequence of the change 
of climate. Rev. J. Henry Wiggin, whose family were ac- 
quainted with the Cushmans at the Northend, and to whom 
1 am indebted for many of the facts in this notice, attributes 
the loss of voice to the overstraining to which she subjected 
it after her arrival in New Orleans. Further effort as a singer 
was of course hopeless, and returning to New York she 
served three years as a stock actor in the old Park Theatre, 
under Manager Simpson. It is unnecessary to follow her dis- 
tinguished career further than to speak of one passage in it, 
which came under my direct notice. During the winter of 
1843 ^nd 1844, which I spent in Philadelphia, she was the 
lessee and manager of the Chestnut Street Theatre, where I 
saw her repeatedly in Macbeth, Julia in the Hunchback, Ju- 
liana in the Honeymoon, Queen Katherine, Meg Merrilies, 
Oberon, Bianca in Milman's Fazio; Lady Gay Sparker, Shy- 
lock and Beatrice. In 1847 I saw her at the Haymarket 
Theatre in London, and I remember how my patriotism was 
stirred by the rapturovts applause her acting elicited. During 
the Philadelphia winter, to which I have alluded. Miss Cush- 
man, with her father and a brother, whom she was educating 
at the Pennsylvania Medical School, was a regular attendant 
morning and evening, at the L^nitarian Church, of which Rev. 
Dr. Furness was pastor. 

Miss Cushman had a younger sister, Susan, whose beauty 
presented a marked contrast to her own masculine plainness. 
In early life Susan married at the Northend a tailor by the 
name of Merriman, after whose death Charlotte introduced 
her to the stage, and as Romeo to Susan's Juliet, played 
Romeo and Juliet in London one hundred nights. On the 
9th of March, 1848, Susan married in Liverpool Dr. James 
S. Muspratt, Professor of Chemistry, in that city, and died 
there May 10, 1859. Charlotte Cushman died in Boston, Feb- 
ruary 18, 1876, and was buried from King's Chapel on Wash- 
ington's birthday. 

Until 1858 a dwelling house stood on the south corner of 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. I99 

Court square, which in that year was removed for the pur- 
pose of widening the square. All through my youth that 
house was owned and occupied by Captain Joseph Bartlett. 
He bought the house in 1800, of Nathaniel Thomas, having 
up to that time, after his marriage, lived in Wellingsley on an 
estate which had previously belonged to his father-in-law, 
Joseph Churchill. Captain Bartlett, through life, kept up the 
Churchill farm, the entrance to which was through a gate at 
Jabez Corner. Warren avenue, when it was laid out, followed 
the cartway, which led through his farm. More than once 
Captain Bartlett took me in his chaise over to his farm at 
Poverty Point, as it was called, and I have a vivid recollec- 
tion of the apples with which I filled my pockets, and the 
sweet corn which the old gentleman gave me to carry home 
to my mother. His chaise was one with an iron axle, and 
its loud rattle in his comings and goings always indicated 
his latitude and longitude. For many years he was an enter- 
prising and successful ship owner and merchant, and in 1803 
bought the lot on the north corner of Court square, and built 
and occupied the brick house now occupied by William Hedge. 
His losses were so severe during the embargoes and the war 
of 1812, that in 1820 he moved back to his old home, and con- 
tinued to occupy it until his death. He was a son of Samuel 
and Betsey (Moore) Bartlett, and was born June 16, 1762, 
and married in 1784, Rebecca Churchill, and had William, 
.1786, Rebecca, Susan, 1795, Joseph, Augustus, John, Samuel, 
Benjamin and Eliza Ann. He married second in 1821, Lucy, 
daughter of Charles Dyer, and died March 4, 1835. His 
son, William Bartlett, married in 1814, Susan, daughter of 
Dr. James Thatcher, and had Susan Louisa, 181 5, who mar- 
ried Charles O. Boutelle, Elizabeth Thatcher, 1818, John, 
1820, and Eliza Ann, 1825. 

John Bartlett, son of William and Susan (Thatcher) Bart- 
lett, became distinguished in both commercial and literary 
life, and deserves a special notice. He was born in Plym- 
outh, June 14, 1820. When his grandfather, Joseph Bartlett, 
removed in 1820 to his old home, his son, William, the father 
of John, who had been occupying his father's house since his 
marriage in 1814, moved into the brick house and kept it as 
a public house under the name of the Old Colony Hotel. Ex- 



200 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

actly how long William Bartlett kept the house I have no 
means of knowing, but he was succeeded in a year or two, 
by William Spooner, who was in turn succeeded by Ezra 
Gushing until 1827, when the house was bought by Nathaniel 
Russell, and became his residence. I have a letter from Judge 
John Davis of Boston, dated September 23, 1820, to my 
grandfather, William Davis, disclosing a plan, proposed by 
William Sturgis and others, friends of the Pilgrim Society, 
in Boston, to purchase the house for a memorial edifice, dedi- 
cated to the Pilgrims. The plan was to have it kept as a 
hotel, where meetings of the society might be held, and din- 
ners and balls provided for on anniversary days. Judge 
Davis was opposed to the scheme, and finally a committee of 
Boston gentlemen was appointed to aid the trustees of the 
society in erecting such a memorial as might be agreeable to 
them. The gentlemen appointed as the committee were Lem- 
uel Shaw, Francis C. Gray, Harrison Gray Otis, Isaac P. 
Davis, James Savage, George Bond, Benjamin Rich, Francis 
Bassett, John T. Winthrop and Nathan Hale. 

Returning now to John Bartlett, who was born June 14, 
1820, the year in which at an unknown date his father moved 
into the brick house, it is impossible to determine in which 
house he was born. He was educated in the public schools 
of Plymouth, and was my schoolmate and playmate. In the 
autumn of 1836 he entered the bookbinding establishment 
connected with the University Bookstore in Cambridge, of 
which John Owen was the proprietor. In the next year, 1837, 
he became a clerk in the bookstore, and at once displayed re- 
markable aptitude for the business. He was an extensive 
reader, and possessed a wide knowledge of authors, and was 
soon recognized as an expert in the preparation of books for 
the press. In August, 1846, Mr. Owen failed, and he con- 
tinued as clerk with his successor, George Nichols, until 1849, 
when he bought out Mr. Nichols. In 1859 he sold out his 
store to Sever & Francis, having published a number of 
books for various authors. He had also published three edi- 
tions of his "Familiar Quotations," the first of which was is- 
sued in 1856. In 1 86 1 he prepared a few books for publica- 
tion, but transferred them to Sever & Francis. In 1862 he 
served as volunteer paymaster nine months on board Admiral 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 201 

Du Font's despatch boat. In August, 1863, he entered the 
pubHshing house of Little, Brown & Co., as clerk, with the 
promise that at the expiration of eighteen months, when the 
existing partnership would terminate, he would be taken into 
the firm. In 1864 Little, Brown & Co. published the fourth 
edition of his "Familiar Quotations," and an edition de luxe 
of "Walton's Angler," edited by him. In February, 1865, 
he became a partner in the firm, and the literary, manufac- 
turing and advertising departments were assigned to him, 
all of which he retained during his connection with the firm. 
In 1882 Little, Brown & Co. published his Shakespeare 
"Phrase Book," and in February, 1889, having been several 
years senior partner, he retired from the firm in order to 
complete his "Shakespeare Concordance." The fifth and sixth 
editions of "Quotations" were published by Little, Brown & 
Co., the seventh and eighth by Routledge of London, and 
the ninth by Little, Brown & Co., and Macmillan & Co. of 
London, and of all these editions, more than two hundred 
thousand copies, have been sold. 

In 1891 Macmillan & Co., of London, offered to publish his 
"Shakespeare Concordance" at their own risk, and it was is- 
sued by them in 1894. In recognition of his literary service, 
he was made in 1892 a member of the American Academy of 
Arts and Sciences ; in 1871 was awarded by Harvard an hon- 
orary degree of Master of Arts, and in 1894, he was made an 
honorary member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He mar- 
ried, June 4, 1851, Hannah, daughter of Sydney Willard, 
Professor of Hebrew at Harvard from 1805 to 1831, and 
granddaughter of Joseph Willard, President of Harvard 
from 1781 to 1804, and died in Cambridge, December 3, 
1905. 

I have spoken of the occupants of the brick house on the 
north corner of Court Square, before 1827, when it came into 
the possession of Nathaniel Russell, who occupied it from 
that time until his death, October 21, 1852. He was the son 
of John and Mercy (Foster) Russell, and was born April 6, 
1769, in the house on the west side of Main street next north 
of Mr. Gooding's watchmaker's store, where his father lived 
from 1759 to 1776. After reaching manhood he was engaged 
for a time in business in Bridgewater, removing to Plymouth 



202 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

not lon^^ after the year 1800, and occupying the house which 
until recently stood on the lower corner of Middle street and 
LeBaron's alley. About 1808 he removed to the house on the 
north side of Summer street next to the house on the 
comer of Ring Lane, and made that his home until he bought 
the house on the corner of Court Square. He was extensive- 
ly engaged many years in iron manufactures in connection 
with William Davis and Barnabas Hedge, and after 1837, as 
the head of the firm of N. Russell & Co. He was a man who 
always had at heart the welfare of his native town, and joined 
in every movement to elevate its social and moral condition. 
A Lyceum in 1829, of which he was President; a Temperance 
Society at about the same date, with which he was connected ; 
a Peace Society in 1831, and affairs of the church, of which 
he was a member, always commanded his aid and support. 
He married, June 18, 1800, Martha, daugHter of Isaac Le- 
Baron, and had Nathaniel, Mary Howland, Andrew Leach, 
Mercy Ann, Francis James, LeBaron and Lucia Jane. He 
was always known in my day as Captain Nathaniel Russell, 
having been commissioned by Governor Samuel Adams, May 
25, I795» Captain in the Fourth Regiment, first brigade and 
fifth division of the State Militia. Nathaniel Russell, Jr., 
born in Bridge water, December 18, 1801, graduated at Har- 
vard in 1820, and became associated with his father in busi- 
ness. He married, June 25, 1827, Catherine Elizabeth, 
daughter of Daniel Robert and Betsey Hay ward (Thacher) 
Elliott of Savannah, Georgia, and died February 16, 1875. 
He will be further mentioned later. 

Mary Howland Russell, born October 22, 1803, died Janu- 
ary 12, 1862. 

Andrew L. Russell, born May 16, 1806, graduated at Har- 
vard in 1827, and was engaged at one time in the dry goods' 
jobbing business in Central street, Boston, in partnership with 
William S. Russell, and later with N. Russell & Co. in Plym- 
outh. He married, May 3, 1832, Laura Dewey, and, second, 
October 5, 1841, Flannah White, daughter of William Davis, 
Jr. He has been already noticed in connection with the rows 
of elms planted by him on Court street, which if not consign- 
ed to death by the concrete sidewalks, will serve as a .lasting 
memorial of his service to his native town. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 203 

Mercy Ann, born August 16, 1809, died September 18, 
1832. 

Francis James graduated at Harvard in 183 1, and died 
September 6, 1833. 

LeBaron graduated at Harvard in 1832, and died xA-ugust 
19, 1889. 

Lucia Jane, born November 22, 1821, married Rev. Dr. 
George W. Briggs, November 5, 1849, ^^^<^ died November 
1, 1881. 

LeBaron Russell, above mentioned, studied medicine in 
Boston and Paris, and established himself in Boston. Indis- 
posed to active labor in his profession, he devoted himself to 
literary pursuits, and by his interest in the schools and chari- 
ties of the city, led a useful and beneficent life. 

The house itself, so long identified with the Russell family, 
deserves special notice. It is a fine example of the style of 
domestic architecture which had its origin in the middle of 
the eighteenth century. It has been suggested by some that 
it was designed by Charles Bulfinch, but I lived from 1849 to 
1853 in a block of houses on Franklin street in Boston, de- 
signed by him, and I remember nothing in their exterior or 
interior to suggest his handiwork. I am inclined to think 
that it was modelled after the designs of Peter Harrison, 
an English architect, examples of whose work may be found 
in Salem, which were followed more or less closely in later 
times in that city, and in Marblehead and Portsmouth. Har- 
rison came to Newport, R. I., in 1829, in the ship with Bishop 
Berkley and Smibert, the distinguished portrait painter, and 
before his death, which occurred in Boston, designed the Red- 
wood library in Newport, King's chapel in Boston, and 
Christ's church in Cambridge. Symmetry and proportion 
were the characteristics of his work, and no better illustration 
of these exquisite qualities can be found than in his original 
efforts and their faithful copies. The beautiful old porch of 
the house in question, rounded in shape and supported by 
clover leaf columns, harmonizing with the windows beneath 
and above it, was replaced by the present one about 1840. 



204 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXI. 

To break the monotony of personal reminiscence, I shall 
recall some of the games which prevailed in my 
youth. When the April showers and the dog days come 
year after year at their appointed times, we are satisfied with 
I he explanation that they are following the order of nature. 
When in their seasons the robins build their nestr,, and the 
blackbirds gather in flocks preparatory to their autumn flight, 
we are content with the statement that they are guided by in- 
stinct. But we have no answer to the question — why we boys, 
as if in obedience to a mysterious edict issued by a secret 
council, each year simultaneously in all our towns brought 
from their winter quarters our alleys and taws, and snapped 
our marbles on every available sidewalk. After the marble 
fever had run, like measles, a certain number of days, the 
scene suddenly changed, and driving hoop was the order of 
the day. The hoop was not one of those toy hoops we see in 
these days, galvanized iron rings, with an attachment to push 
them with, but the genuine hoop from an oil cask, one from 
the bilge for the larger boys, and one from the chine for the 
smaller ones. When we gathered at twilight, and either in 
single or double file, made the circuit of the town, we made 
the welkin ring literally to beat the band. 

After the hoop came, as now, the ball games, skip, one old 
cat, two old cat, hit or miss, and round ball. We made our 
own balls, winding yarn over a core of India rubber, until the 
right size was reached, and then working a loop stitch all 
around it with good, hard, tightly spun twine. Attempts were 
occasionally made to play ball in the streets, but the by-laws 
of the town forbidding it were rigidly enforced. There were 
four gangs of boys, the North street gang, which played in 
the Jackson field in the rear of North street ; the Court street 
gang, which played in Captain Joseph Bartlett's field, where 
the easterly end of Russell street and the adjoining buildings 
are; the Summer street gang, which played in Cow Hill Val- 
ley, and the "tother side gang," which played on Training 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 205 

Green, sometimes to the detriment of neighboring windows. 
While the days were longest the street games were next in 
order, hare and hounds, prison bar, leap frog, Tom Tiddler's 
ground, Red Lion in his den, I spy, hide and seek, nine holes, 
back side in the way, and follow the leader. 

Over hill and dale, 
Through bush, through briar, 
Over park and dale. 
Through flood, through fire. 

Wherever the leader went we must follow, over fences, 
ofif stone walls, in and out of houses, astonishing families, 
and if the boot of the head of the family was in order, com- 
ing out a little more expeditiously than we went in. The 
members of the North street gang, to which I belonged, were 
besides myself and brother, Augustus H. Tribble, the Col- 
lingwood boys, John J. Russell, Richard W. Bagnall, Lewis 
Weston, the Jackson boys, Thomas Cotton, Charles Cotton, 
George IMaynard, George Gooding and Charles T. May. 

Football came next in the early autumn, with a ball made 
of an ox bladder inserted in a leather case of our own making. 
We bought the bladder at the slaughter house, and put it in 
pickle until it was ready to be used, and then when the case 
was made we put it through a slit, and blowing it up with a 
quill tied a string around the nozzle, laced up the slit, and the 
game began. In those days all the boys wore boots, and con- 
sequently little damage was done to our shins. 

With the coming of the first cool nights we hunted in the 
morning for strips of ice in the gutter, and spent the hour 
before school in sliding, boys and girls together, the girls, I 
never knew the reason why, giving a little hop at the begin- 
ning of their slide. And then came our sliding down hill, 
the larger boys with George P. Hayward and William Rider 
Drew and Jesse Turner at their head. Mr. Hayward's Con- 
stitution, painted green, and having round steel spring run- 
ners, taking the lead, would slide from the top of Burial Hill 
down through a wide open gate between the high school- 
house and the L^nitarian church, along Leyden street, down 
Turner's hill to the end of Barnes' wharf. The smaller boys 
would spend the afternoons of Saturday perfectly happy on 
the short slide from the bottom of the Middle street steps to 



206 > PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Water street. All our sleds were made to order, scorning as 
we would if they had been purchasable, the toy sleds which 
can now be bought for a song, and are high at the price. 
There was a sled of domestic manufacture in my day which, 
considering its cheapness and simplicity, was a quite satisfac- 
tory sled in the minds of those who could afford no better. 
It was made of six white oak cask staves, three above and 
three below, with the convex on the outside, and a cleat at 
each end between the staves, to which it was nailed. With 
a little less speed, perhaps, than other sleds, yet in humpy 
dagger and belly hacker in wearing out boot toes, and heels, 
they were as efficient as any. With skating and its accom- 
paniment hocky, the winter passed away, and the year came 
to an end. Of course many out of door games now in vogue 
were not known in my early days. Cricket was little played, 
while croquet, tennis, and golf had not made their appear- 
ance. To these modern innovations doubtless before long 
curling and lacrosse will be added. The game of ten pins 
was a familiar one, but its enjoyment was limited by the 
almost entire absence of alleys until the Samoset alleys were 
built in 1845. There was a poor, short alley on Billington 
Sea Island, but rarely used except on the occasion of picnics. 
It was by no means an uncommon thing in the college vaca- 
tion to go as far as Holmes' Tavern, near Harrub's corner, 
and roll in the alleys of Mr. Holmes, whose lame back we 
sorely tried by his efforts to act as ball boy, and sometimes 
we went as far as an alley near the Cushman cotton factory, 
beyond Plympton Green. Carriage hire in those days was 
so low that such an afternoon expedition could be had without 
extravagance. We could hire for a half a day at George 
Drew's stable in Middle street, for a dollar, either Dolly or 
Little Jack, or the Eastern mare, or the Peabodv horse with a 
chaise, or for a dollar and a half. Bob sorrel with a carryall. 
I say chaise, a name derived through the English word chair, 
from the French chaire, because buggies were unknown in 
Plymouth in my youth. Buggies were introduced from India, 
where in Hindustani they were called baggi or bagghi, four 
wheeled carriages with hoods, and our wagon is derived from 
the Dutch word wagen. Every family owning a horse had a 
chaise, and carriage houses were universally called chaise 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 207 

houses, as they are still by myself, and older persons. The 
fronts of these houses were always made with curved tops, 
and I know of only three now left in town, those of Mrs. 
Lothrop, Father Buckley and William Rider Drew. The 
first buggy in Plymouth was brought from Boston by my 
imcle, Nathaniel Morton Davis in the 1830's, and was owned 
by John Harlow of Chiltonville at the time of his death a few 
years ago. 

Of the indoor games of my youth, battledore and shuttle- 
cock and the graces have gone out. The other games of the 
young were as they are now, blind man's buff, scandal, crib- 
bage, backgammon, commerce, whist, chess, checkers, vingt- 
un, all fours, bragg, loo and euchre. The gambling- game of 
bridge was unknown, as it ought to be today. Quadrille was 
played by older people, and Boston, after a disappearance 
for many years, was again introduced in 1844. Piquet, the 
ancient game of ombre adapted to four instead of three per- 
sons, and played also by older persons, was immortalized by 
Pope in the following lines : 

Belinda when thirst of fame invites. 

Burns to encounter two adventurous knights, 

At ombre singly to decide their doom, 

And swells her breast with conquests yet to come. 

In the selection of leaders and sides in the out of door 
games, what were called "countings out" were used, very 
curious doggerels, whose origin is as mysterious as that of lan- 
guage itself. They are used in every towm in every state in 
our Union, and have been found in more than twenty lan- 
guages, including English, French, Spanish, German, Rus- 
sian, Dutch, Gallic, Turkish, Hindustani, Japanese, Hawaiian, 
Irish, Romani, Cornish, etc. There is a vein of similarity 
running through them, though changes and additions and cor- 
ruptions have been the result of their adoption into various 
dialects. In closing this chapter I subjoin the following list 
of such as my own memory, and that of others have furnished 
me, and such as I have found in print. 

Eena, mcena, rnony my, 

Tuscalona, bona sty, 

Hulda, gulda, boo. 

Out goes you. (United States.) 



2o8 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Eena, meena, mona my, 
Tuscalona, bona stry, 
Tin pan, maska dary, 
Higly, pigly, pig snout, 
Crinkly, cranky, you are out. 

(New Hampshire.) 

Eeny, meeny, mony my, 

Barcelona, stony stry. 

Eggs, butter, cheese, bread. 

Stick, stock, stone dead. (England.) 

Eeny, meeny, mony mo, 

Catch a nigger by the toe, 

If he squeals, let him go, 

Eeny, meeny, miny mo. (Scotland.) 

Eena, deina, dina doe, 

Catch a nigger by the toe. 

If he screams, let him go. 

Eena, deena, dina doe. (Ireland.) 

Ena, mena, bona mi, 

Kisca, lana, mora di, 

Eggs, butter, cheese, bread. 

Stick, stock, stone dead. (Ancient.) 

Allem, Bellem, Chirozi, 

Chirmirozi, fotozi, 

Fotoz girden, magara, 

Magarada, tilki bush, 

Pilki, beni korkoostdi, 

Aallede, ?hovellede, edimeda, 

Divid bushe. 

Den Olayen, kehad bashi. (Turkey.) 

Anery, twaerj% duckery, seven, 

Alama crack, ten am eleven, 

Palm, pom, it must be done. 

Come lettle, come total, come twenty-one. (Druids.) 

One-erj', two-ery, ziccary zan, 

Hollow bone, crockabone, ninery tan, 

Spittery, spot it must be done, 

Twiddle-um, twaddle-um twenty-one. (England.) 

Ekkeri, akaisi, you kaiman, 
Fillisin, follasy, Nicholas Jan, 
Kivi, Kavi, Irishman, 
Stini, stani, buck. (Romani.) 

Eena, meena, mona, mite, 

Basca, lora, hora, bite. (Cornwall.) 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 209 

Eena, tena, mona, mi. 

Pastor, lone, boni strei. (German.) 

Eena, meener, mulker, 
Porceleiner, stutker. (Dutch.) 

Hickory, hoary, hairy, Ann, 

Busybody, oven span, 

Pare, pare, virgin, mari. (Guernsey.) 

One ery, tvi^o ery, Dickey Davy, 

Hulleboo, cracker, gentle Mary, 

Dixum Dandy, merrigo hind, 

Fersumble-du, tumble-du, twenty-nine. (Ireland.) 

Eena, deena, dina dust, 

Calita, meena, wina, must, 

Spin, spon, must be done, 

Twiddledum, twaddledum, twenty-one. 

O. U. T. speels out. 

With the old dish clout. 

Out boys, out. (England.) 

One is all, two is all, Zick is all zan, 
Bobtail, vinegar, little tol tan, 
Harum, scarum, Virginia merum, 
Zee, tan, buck. (New Hampshire.) 

One-ezzoll, two-ezzoll, ziggle, zol zan, 
Bobtail vinegar, little tall tan, 
Harum, scarum, virgin marum, 
Zinctum, zanctum, buck. (Delaware.) 

Intry, mintry, cutry, corn, 

Apple seed, and briar thorn, 

Wire briar, limber lock. 

Three geese in a flock, 

One flew east, and one flew west, 

And one flew over the cuckoo's nest. 

Delia Domna, Nona dig, 
Oats floats, country notes, 
Hy, born tusk, 
Hulali, Gulala, goo, 
Out goes you. 

One is all, two is all, 

Zick is all zeven. 

Arrow bone, cracker bone, 

Ten or eleven. 

Six and four are ten. 

Chase the red lion to his den. 



210 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Intry, mintry, cutry corn, 

Apple seed and briar thorn, 

Wire, briar, limber lock, 

Six geese in a flock. 

Set and sing by a spring, 

My grandmother lives on the hill. 

She has jewels, she has rings. 

She has many pretty things, 

O. U. T. spells out you go. 

Hunt the squirrel through the woods, 
I lost him, I found him ; 
I sent a letter to his son, 
I lost him, I found him. 

Fe, fi, fo, fum, 

I smell the blood of an Englishman, 

Be he live, or be he dead, 

I'll have his bones to make my bread. (Plymouth.) 

Eggs, cheese, butter, bread, 

Stick, stock, stone, dead, 

Hang him up, lay him down. 

On his father's living ground. (Plymouth.) 

Een, teen feather pip, 

Sargo, larko, bump. (Plymouth.) 

Inditie, Mentitie, Petitee, Dee, 
Delia, Delia, Dominee, 
Oacha, Poacha, Domminnicher, 
King, Ping, Chee. (Plymouth.) 

Henry, pennery, pit for gold, 

Had a louse in his head, 

Seven years old. 

Seventy, seventy on to that. 

This old logy will grow fat, 

Hinchiman, pinchiman, make his back smart, 

If ever I catch him, I'll sling him to my heart; 

Sling, slang, chattery bang— out. (Plymouth.) 

Intry, tentry, tethery, methery, 

Bank for over Diman Diny, 

Ant, tant, tooch. 

Up tlie causey, down the cross. 

There stands a bonnie white horse, 

It can gallop, it can trot, 

It can carry the mustard pot. 

One, two, three, out goes she. (Scotland.) 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 211 

Eeny, teeny, other feather hip, 
Satha, latha, kedarthun deck, 

Een dick, teen dick, ether dick, fether dick, bunkin, 
Een bunkin, teen bunckeen, either bunkin, fether bunkin 
digit. (Indiana.) 

Eenity, feenity, fickety, fig. 

El del, dolman egg, 

Irby, birky, stony rock. 

An tan toosh Jack. (Scotland.) 

Hinty, minty, entry corn, 
Apple seed and briar thorn; 
Wire, briar, limber lock, 
Three geese in a flock ; 
One flew east, and one flew west. 
One flew over the cuckoo nest. 

Up on yonder hill. 

There's where my father dwells. 

He has jewels, he has rings. 

He has many pretty things, 

He has a hammer with two nails. 

He has a cat with two tails. 

Strike Jack, lick Tom, 

Blow the bellows, old man. (New England.) 

Onerie, twoerie, 
Hahbo crackaro, 
Henry Lary, 
Guacahan Dandy, 
Bullalie Collilie, 
Forty-nine. 

Onery, youery, eckery Anna, 
Phillicy, pholocy, Nicholas John, 
Queeby, quoby, Irish Mary, 
Tinkerlam, Tarkerlum buck. 

One ezzol, two ezzoll, zichara zan, 
Bobtail vinegar, little tall tan, 
H'arum, scarum, virgin marum, 
Zinctum, zanctum buck. 

Tit, tat toe. 
Here I go, 
And if I miss 
I pitch on this. 

Rumble, rumble in the pot, 
King's nail horse top, 
Take off lid. 



212 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Fe, fi, fo fum, 

I smell the blood of an Englishman. 

Be he live, or be he dead, 

I'll have his bones to make my bread. 

Een, teen, feather pip, 
Sarco, larco, bump. 

Akaha, ou oi, ha, 
Paele, kakini, 
I kana, hoole pa; 
Mai, no alaee 
Ohu, memona kapolena, 
Kaide, wilu. (Hawaii.) 

Een, twee, koppie thee, 

Drie, vier, glaas ge beer, 

Vzl zes bitter in de flesch, 

Ziyen acht san op wacht, 

Negen teen, ok hit diener gezzen. (Dutch.) 

Ene tene mon emei, 
Pastor Loni bone strei. 
Ene funi, herke berke, 
Wer-we-wo-was. ( German.) 

Eggs, cheese, butter bread. 

Stick, stone dead, 

Stick him up and stick him down, 

Stick him in the old man's crown. (United States.) 

Ink, pink, papers, ink, 

Am pam push. (Scotland.) 

Ink, mink, pepper stink, 

Sarko, Larko, Bump. (Plymouth.) 

Hink, spink, the puddings stink, 
The fat begins to fry, 
Nobody at home but jumping Joan, 
Father, mother and I. (English.) 

One, two, three. 
Out goes she. 

One, two, three, 

Nanny caught a flea. 

The flea died, and Nanny cried, 

Out goes she. (United States.) 

One-ery, two-ery, eckeery Ann, 

Phillisy. phollisy, Nicholas John, 

Queebe, quarby, Irish Mary, 

Sinkum, sankum, Johnny go buck. (Cambridge.) 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 213 

Winnery, ory, accury han, 
Phillisy, Phollisi, Nicholas Jan, 
Queby, quorby, Irish Mary, 
Sink, sunk, sock. (England.) 

Eeny, meeny, mony mi, 

Pastalony, bony sty, 

Harby, darby, walk. (Michigan.) 

Great house, little house, pig sty, barn. 
Rich man, poor man, beggar man. 

The last two were used in Plymouth in the ball game of 
skip. One of the two boys who chose sides tossed the 
bat to the other who caught it and held it. Then the two 
alternately grasped it hand over hand, and if there was 
enough of the bat left for the next one to hold it, and throw 
it over his head, he had the first choice of players. 



214 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXII. 



I will add in this chapter some additional memoranda relat- 
ing to marine matters, before proceeding with the regular or- 
der which I had prescribed for my memories. In connection 
with the account of vessels built and owned in Plymouth, it 
will not be inappropriate to speak of those in Kingston and 
Duxbury, of which I have any recollection, or of which I have 
been able to obtain an account. All of these in entering or 
leaving their port passed through the waters of Plymouth. 

Ezra Weston & Sons owned more vessels than any other 
firm in New England, except William Gray of Salem, and, 
perhaps, more than any other in the United States, with the 
above exception. The following is a partial list of their ves- 
sels built in Duxbury with their tonnage as far as ascertained, 
for which I am indebted to Major Joshua M. Gushing of Dux- 
bury. 

Brig Rising Sun, 130 tons. 

Brig Sylvia, 130 tons. 

Schooner Ardent. 

Schooner Maria. 

Schooner Berin. 

Schooner Union . 

Schooner Volant. 

Schooner Laurel. 

Schooner Prissy. 

Schooner Sophia. 

Schooner Phoenix. 

Sloop Fame. 

Sloop Jerusha. 

Sloop Pomona. 

Brig Federal Eagle, 120 tons. 

Ship Julius Caesar, 300 tons. 

Brig Admittance, 128 tons. 

Schooner Rising States. 

Schooner Fenelon. 

Schooner Salamis, 160 tons. 

Brig Ezra & Daniel, 125 tons. 

Brig Gershom, 136 tons. 

Ship Minerva, 250 tons. 

Brig Warren, 120 tons. 



1800, 
1800, 
1800, 
1801 
1801 
1801 
1802, 
1802, 
1802 
1803 
1803 
1803 
1803 
1803 
1803 
1804, 
1804 
1805 
1805 
1806: 
1806, 
1806, 
1807 
1807, 



OF AN^ OCTOGENARIAN. 21 5 

1807, Sloop Apollo. 

8, Ship Camillus, 350 tons. 

9, Ship Admittance, 300 tons. 
[809, Sloop Linnett, 50 tons. 
1810, Schooner Flora. 

?ii, Schooner George Washington, 50 tons. 

[813, Brig Golden Goose, 130 tons. 

1813, Schooner Copack. 

1815, Brig Despatch, 125 tons. 
r8i6. Ship Brahmin, 339 tons. 

1816, Brig Messenger, 135 tons. 
1816, Schooner Collector, 70 tons. 

1816, Sloop Exchange, 60 tons. 

1817, Schooner St. Michael, 120 tons. 

1817, Sloop Diamond, 50 tons. 

1818, Brig Despatch, 130 tons. 
r8i8, Schooner Angler, 60 tons. 

?I9, Brig Two Friends, 240 tons. 

[819, Schooner Franklin, 60 tons. 

1820, Brig Margaret, 185 tons. 
[820, Brig Baltic, 212 tons. 

1821, Schooner Star, 20 tons. 
1821, Schooner Panoke, 60 tons. 
[822, Brig Globe, 214 tons. 
[823, Brig Herald, 162 tons. 
[825, Ship Franklin, 246 tons 

?25, Brig Pioneer, 231 tons. 

1825, Brig Smyrna, 162 tons. 
[825, Bark Pallas, 209 tons. 

1826, Brig Levant, 219 tons. 
1826, Brig Ganges, 174 tons. 
1826, Schooner Dray, 86 tons. 

1826, Schooner Triton, 75 tons. 
[826, Ship Lagoda, 340 tons. 
[827, Brig Malaga, 150 tons. 

1827, Brig Ceres, 176 tons. 

1827, Schooner Pomona, 84 tons. 

1828, Ship Julian, 355 tons. 

1828, Sloop Reform, 53 tons. 
[828, Schooner Virginia, T^ tons. 

1829, Sloop Glide, 60 tons. 
1829, Brig Neptune, 196 tons. 
1829, Schooner Seaman, 70 tons. 
[830, Ship Renown. 300 tons. 
1831, Ship Joshua Bates, 316 tons. 
1831, Ship Undine, 253 tons. 
[832, Schooner Seadrift, 90 tons. 
[832, Schooner Ranger, 32 tons. 



2l6 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

1832, Brig Angola, 220 tons. 

1832, Ship Minerva, 2gi tons. 

1833, Schooner Volunteer, 109 tons. 
1833, Ship Mattakeesett, 356 tons. 

1833, Ship St. Lawrence, 356 tons. 

1834, Brig Messenger, 213 tons. 
1834, Schooner Liberty, 92 tons. 

1834, Ship Admittance, 426 tons. 

1835, Ship Vandalia, 432 tons. 
183s, Brig Trenton, 226 tons. 

1836, Ship Eliza Warwick, 530 tons. 

1837, Brig Oriole, 218 tons. 
i8?7. Schooner Maquet, 80 tons. 
1839, Brig Lion, 235 tons. 
1839, Brig Smyrna, 196 tons. 
1839, Ship Oneco, 640 tons. 

1841, Ship Hope, 880 tons. 

1842, Sloop Union, 63 tons. 

1842, Brig Vulture, 140 tons. 

1843, Ship Manteo, 600 tons. 

1844, Schooner Angler, 86 tons. 
1844, Schooner Mayflower, 24 tons. 
184s, Schooner Ocean, 103 tons. 
1846, Schooner Express, 93 tons. 

Ezra Weston, son of Ezra and Salumith (Wads worth) Wes- 
ton of Duxbury, was born November 30, 1771. He married 
Jerusha Bradford, and died August 15, 1842. His sons, liv- 
ing until manhood, were Gershom Bradford, born August 27, 
1799; Alden Bradford, 1805, and Ezra, 1809. 

Besides the ship yards of the Westons there were the yards 
of Samuel Hall, Joshua Gushing and Joshua Gushing, Jr., the 
Drews and of Paulding and Southworth, in which many ves- 
sels were built. 

The following is a list of vessels built and owned by Jos- 
eph Holmes of Kingston, between 1801 and 1862, the year 
of his death, for which I am indebted to Mrs. H. M, Jones of 
Kingston : 

1801, Brig Two Follies, 250 tons. 

1802, Brig Algol, 220 tons. 

1804, Ship Lucy, 208 tons. 

1805, Schooner Alexander, 100 tons. 

1806, Brig Trident, 130 tons. 

1806, Brig Brunette, 180 tons. 

1807, Schooner Dolly, 106 tons. 
1809, Brig Roxanna, 200 tons. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 217 

1812, Ship Elizabeth, 300 tons. 

1813, Ship Chili, 300 tons. 

1814, Schooner Mile, 100 tons. 
1814, Brig Lucy, 140 tons. 

1816, Schooner Ann Gurley, 100 tons. 

1816, Brig Indian Chief, 150 tons. 

1817, Schooner Celer, 64 tons. 

181 7, Schooner Paraclite, 95 tons. 

1818, Schooner Hope, 70 tons. 
1818, Ship Rambler, 320 tons. 

1820, Schooner Edward, 40 tons. 

1821, Ship Columbus, 320 tons. 

1822, Ship Horace, 53 tons. 
1822, Ship Kingston, 325 tons. 

1822, Brig Sophia and Eliza, 200 tons. 

1823, Brig Leonidas, 180 tons. 

1824, Schooner Cornelius, 35 tons. 
1824, Schooner Pamela, 75 tons. 

1824, Brig Deborah, 165 tons. 

1825, Schooner Wm. Allen, 88 tons. 
1825, Schooner Five Brothers, "jd tons. 
1825. Brig Edward, 239 tons. 

1825, Schooner Eveline, 75 tons. 

1826, Schooner Industry, 72 tons. 

1827, Bark Truman, 267 tons. 

1827, Brig Galago, 160 tons. 

1828, Schooner Hunter, 12 tons. 
1828, Schooner January, 64 tons. 
1828, Schooner February, 88 tons. 
1828, Schooner March, 90 tons. 

1828, Brig Roxanna, 140 tons. 

1829, Brig Two Sisters, 130 tons. 
1829, Schooner April, 64 tons. 

1829, Ship Helen Mar, 290 tons. 

1830, Bark Turbo, 280 tons. 

1830, Ship Ohio, 300 tons. 

1831, Bark Alasco, 286 tons. 
1834, Schooner December, 50 tons. 
1834, Ship Rialto, 460 tons. 
1837, Schooner July, 48 tons. 

1837, Schooner August, 117 tons. 

1838, Schooner September, 119 tons. 
1838, Brig Belize, 164 tons. 

1838, Ship Herculean, 540 tons. 

1839, Schooner October, no tons. 

1840, Schooner Honest Tom, 115 tons. 
1840, Schooner November, 107 tons. 
1843, Ship Raritan, 499 tons. 



2l8 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

1843, Schooner May, 92 tons. 

1843, Schooner June, 92 tons. 

1843, Brig Gustavus, 153 tons. 

184s, Brie Edward Henry, 164 tons. 

1848, Schooner Risk, 94 tons. 

1848, Ship Nathan Hannum, 512 tons. 

1849. Schooner Cosmos, 108 tons. 

1849, Bark Ann and Mary, 210 tons. 

1850, Schooner Clark Winsor, 127 tons. 

1851, Ship Joseph Holmes, 610 tons. 

1852, Schooner Ocean Bird, 118 tons. 

1852, Bark Fruiter, 290 tons. 

1853, Schooner Kingfisher, 116 tons. 
1855, Bark Sicilian, 320 tons. 

1855, Bark Abbv. 178 tons. 

1856, Bark Neapolitan, 320 tons. 

1858, Brig Bird of the Wave, 178 tons. 

1859, Bark Fruiterer, 320 tons. 
i860. Bark Egypt, 547 tons. 
1863, Bark Lemuel, 321 tons. 

Mr. Holmes was in many respects a remarkable man. He 
was born in Kingston in 1771, and died in that town in 1862. 
On the 27th of May, 1821, he went to Bridge water and col- 
lected materials for building a vessel, hiring a yard near the 
Raynham line and laid the keel of the brig Two Follies. Af- 
ter launching the brig Trident in 1806, she took all the spare 
materials in the yard, and carried them to Kingston, where all 
his vessels were built except the Two Follies, Algol, Lucy, 
Alexander and Trident, which were built in Bridgewater. He 
stated in a letter written July i, 1859, that he kept a vessel on 
the stocks nearly all the time, and sometimes two, and once 
built three in a year, all of which he built, fitted and sent to sea, 
except two, on his own account and risk. In that letter he 
said that at the age of 87 years and 7 months, he was about 
to lay the keel of a vessel of two hundred tons, and that he 
was writing the letter without spectacles. I knew him well, 
and often called at his house on the corner of Main street. 
He did his bank business in Boston, leaving only at the Flym- 
outh Bank a deposit made up chiefly of his bank dividends, and 
I was a little amused by a incident which occurred somewhere 
between 1859 and 1862, for which I never saw an explanation, 
though I think it may have been intended as a personal com- 
pliment. One day while in the bank he said, " I don't suppose 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 2ig 

you would lend me any money if I wanted it." Knowing very 
well that he was never in want of money, I said, "Mr. Holmes, 
make out your note payable to your own order for such an 
amount and on such a time as may be agreeable to you, and 
endorse it, and you can have the money." He signed a note 
for $5,000 on four months, and told me to place the money to 
his credit. I did so, and the money remained untouched until 
the note became due. 

The following vessels were built and owned by his son Ed- 
ward Holmes of Kingston : 

1864, Schooner Anna Eldredge, 139 tons. 

1865, Schooner Fisher, 105 tons. 

1866, Bark Solomon, 600 tons. 

1867, Schooner Lucy Holmes, 137 tons. 

1868, Bark Hornet, 330 tons. 

1869, Schooner ]\Iary Baker, 139 tons. 
1874, Brig H. A. Holmes, 320 tons. 
Sloop Roxanna, 60 tons. 

Sloop Leo, 70 tons. 
Sloop Rosewood. 

Besides the above the ship IMatchless was built in Boston, 
and owned by James H. Dawes of Kingston, and the ship 
Brookline, with others, was o^\^led by John and James N. 
Sever of Kingston- 

The following is a list of Kingston captains in the merchant 
service within my memory, for which I am indebted to Capt. 
John C. Dawes of Kingston: 

William Adams, Frederick C. Bailey, Justus Bailey, Otis 
Baker, George Bicknell, Calvin Bryant, Cephas Dawes, James 
H. Dawes, John C. Dawes, Paraclete Holmes, Edward Rich- 
ardson, Benjamin T. Robbins, James W. Sever, Charles Stet- 
son, William Symmes, Peter Winsor, William Winsor. 

The following is a partial list of vessels wrecked within my 
memory in Plymouth waters : 

The earliest wreck in Plymouth waters of which I have any 
recollection, was that of the brig Sally Ann, Captain Caul- 
field, in January, 1835, bound from Porto Rico to Boston. 
She was owned by Charles W. Shepard of Salem, and after 
striking on Brown's Island became a total wreck on the beach. 
No lives were lost, and Martin Gould, one of the crew, be- 
came a permanent resident of Plymouth, and married in 1836 
Ruth (Westgate) widow of William Barrett. 



220 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

The next wreck within my memory was that of the brig- 
Reg-ulator of Boston, Phelps master, on Brown's Island, 
February 4, 1836. She was bound from Smyrna to Boston, 
and with rudder and rigging frozen, and the vessel unman- 
ageable, she came into the bay in a gale from east, northeast, 
and bore away for Plymouth to find an anchorage in Saquish 
Cove, where she saw a brig lying. She dropped her anchor 
at the entrance of the channel in three fathoms of water, and 
in the heavy swell struck hard. At eight in the evening she 
iloated with the tide, and held on until seven o'clock the next 
morning, when she drifted into the breakers, and the captain 
cut away his foremast, which carried with it the main mast, 
and the main yard. At half-past eight she began to break up, 
and George Dryden, an Englishman, Daniel Canton of New 
York, and Augustus Tilton of Vermont, who took to the long 
boat, capsized fifty yards under the lea of the brig and were 
lost. John Smith, a Swede, and a Greek boy, were killed by 
the wreckage, and the remainder of the crew retreated to the 
main rigging, and their final safety was due to the presence, 
in the channel, under the Gurnet, of the brig Cervantes of 
Salem, Kendrick, master, which bound into Boston from 
Charleston, had succeeded in finding a safe anchorage. The 
crew of the Cervantes, after six hours of heroic work, took 
off the men and carried them to their own vessel. The cargo 
of the Regulator consisted of four hundred and sixty bales of 
wool, twenty-five cases of opium, twenty-five cases of gum 
Arabic, twelve bales of senna, two thousand drums of Sultana 
raisins, five packages of cow's tails, one case of saffron flower, 
four hundred sacks of salt, and five tons of logwood. The 
men saved were Captain Phelps, Martin Adams, first mate ; 
James Warden, second mate; Elijah Butler, and Louis Al- 
meira. 

On the 20th of November, 1848, the schooner Welcome 
Return, from Charlottetown, bound for Boston, went ashore 
in a gale at Rocky Hill. She had as passengers, John and 
Mary Burns and six children : Ellen, 1 1 ; Catherine, 9 ; Henry, 
7 ; Mary, 5 ; Rose, 3 ; and Sarah, six months old. The father 
and mother and infant were saved, and all the others lost. 
The father and mother died in Taunton, and the infant, 
Sarah A., is living in Plymouth, the widow of John H. Par- 
sons. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 221 

The next wreck I remember occurred on Friday, January 
25, 1867, at Gunners' Point at Manomet. A gale with snow 
set in Wednesday night, and the railroad was so blocked that 
no trains ran through to Boston until Sunday, and the train 
from Boston Wednesday night reached no further than Hali- 
fax, where the passengers were supplied with refreshments. 
The flag staff in Shirley Square was blown down, as well as 
those at Pilgrim Hall and at the Cordage Factory, and also 
the store house of the Cordage Works. Considerable damage 
Avas done at the wharves, and the schooner Thatcher Taylor 
was capsized, and her masts were carried away. The bark 
Velma from Smyrna, October i8th, Zenas Nickerson of 
Chatham, master, entered the bay on Thursday morning, and 
during the early part of the gale, headed northeast with the 
wind southeast, and finally struck at two o'clock Friday 
morning, a half a mile off shore. Beating over the ledge she 
came within twenty rods of the beach, and swung round with 
her head to the sea. The crew took to the mizzen rigging. 
A little before daylight the steward, unable to longer hold on, 
fell overboard, carrying with him another of the crew, and 
both were lost. The main mast soon fell, carrying also the 
mizzen above the men, and through the forenoon the survi- 
vors succeeded in holding on. At two o'clock in the after- 
noon Henry B. Holmes, Paran Bartlett, James Bartlett, James 
Lynch, Henry Briggs, Otis Nichols, Robert Reamv and Oc- 
tavius Reamy, reached the vessel and saved the re- 
mainder of the crew as follows : Zenas Nick- 
erson of Chatham, master ; Starks Nickerson of 
Chatham, first mate ; John G. Allen of New Bedford, second 
mate ; Augustus L. Jenkins of Portsmouth, John Florida of 
New York, John Perry of Lisbon and Joseph Sylvia of Bos- 
ton. The names of the two men lost were William Sampson, 
England, and Manuel Guscres of Pico, Western Islands. The 
men were carried to the Manomet House, and when stripped, 
one called Jack was found to have on seven undershirts and 
four pairs of stockings. Dr. Alexander Jackson of Plymouth, 
and Dr. C. J. Wood of Chiltonville, the father of Gen. Leonard 
Wood, who was then practicing in Chiltonville, attended the 
men, and performed a number of necessary amputations. 
While they were under treatment I visited them several times 



222 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

and rendered such assistance as I was able. The vessel be- 
longed to G. W. Bisbee, and her cargo consisted of 1245 cases 
of figs; 1 120 boxes do; 7,937 drums, do; 3,527 mats, do; 
1,340 drums of Sultana raisins ; 7 casks of prunes ; 108 bales 
of wool; 180 bags of canary seed; 6 cases of gum tragacanth; 
3,070 pieces of logwood; 50 cases of figs; 8,407 cases, and 
1,587 drums, do, the consignees of which were Baker & Mor- 
rell, Ryder & Hardy, and the captain. 

In the same gale the schooner Shooting Star, Captain Coe, 
with corn from Newcastle, Delaware, for Salem, went ashore 
at Saquish, and was lost. 

In 1873 the schooner Daniel Webster, loaded with iron, 
went ashore on Brown's Island, and was a total loss. 

The brig John R. Rhodes, loaded with corn, was wrecked 
in the outer harbor in the winter of 1 850-1. The wreck was 
bought by John D, Churchill and others, and after repairs in 
Boston was sold. 

In previous chapters I have mentioned Samuel Doten in 
connection with the escape of Plymouth vessels from the em- 
bargo, but I have not by any means done with him. He was 
the son of Sam.uel and Eunice (Robbins) Doten, and was born 
in 1783. His father had three wives, and twenty-three chil- 
dren, the oldest of whom was Samuel, born in 1783, and the 
youngest, James, born in 1829. Captain Doten in early life 
was an enterprising shipmaster, later a builder and owner of 
vessels engaged in the grand bank fishery, and finally a lumber 
merchant on Doten's yard and wharf, the latter of which he 
built not far from 1825. He was a man of commanding figure, 
judicious, active, and prompt, selected many times to serve as 
chief marshal at celebrations of the Pilgrim Society and town. 
He married in 1807 Rebecca, daughter of Nathaniel Brad- 
ford, and died September 8, 1861. Two of his sons, Major 
Samuel H. and Captain Charles C, will be noticed in a later 
chapter in connection with the civil war. Captain Doten was 
engaged in the privateer service during the war of 1812. and 
the following narrative of some of his experiences in that ser- 
vice may be interesting to my readers. For its incidents, and 
for extracts from his log and diary, I am indebted to Captain 
Charles C. Doten, his son. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 223 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

During the war of 1812, as in that of the Revolution, the 
government of the United States issued "letters of marque," 
giving authority to private individuals to build, arm, and man 
vessels, for the purpose of making reprisals upon and destroy- 
ing the enemy's commerce. While these "privateers," as they 
were called, were entirely outside of and unconnected with 
the regular naval force of the country, they became one of the 
most potent weapons wielded on the high seas in behalf of 
the government. Their destructiveness to English commerce 
made them the dread of the ocean, for the daring men who 
engaged in privateering enterprises were the best shipmasters 
and seamen of their day, perfectly familiar with all coast 
ports and the highways of the sea, so they knew where to 
strike most effectively for their own advantage. A vessel cap- 
tured under the English flag, became, with her cargo, the law- 
ful prize of her captors, and the proceeds of sale were divided 
under established rules among the owners, officers and men 
of the privateer, the business in many instances being very 
profitable. The English commercial vessels likewise armed 
for defence, and quite often there were spirited engagements 
before the English Jack would be lowered to the Stars and 
Stripes flown by some saucy, fast sailing Yankee brig, or long, 
low, rakish schooner of the Baltimore clipper type. 

France being friendly to the United States, her ports were 
open to our privateers and their prizes, so the English channel 
itself, right under the nose of Great Britain, was a tempting 
cruising ground where our letters of marque made many a 
successful venture and some of them came to grief in capture 
by the English men-of-war. 

As has been previously said in this series of reminiscences, 
Plymouth had her full number of adventurous spirits, and 
her "men of the sea" on board the many privateers, sailing 
from southern and northern ports. On two vessels, however, 
the "Leo" and the "Geori^^e Little," fitted at Boston, the crews 
were largely made up of Plymouth men, so they may be re- 



224 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

garded as the "Plymoutht privateers" of 1812. Of the "Leo's" 
career we have no detailed knowledge, but it has been told us 
that Captain Harvey Weston, Captain Robert Hutchinson, 
Captain John Chase, Captain Nat Bartlett and others from 
this town whose names are not known, were members of her 
company, and that she took several prizes before she herseU 
was forced to surrender over on the English coast. Her men 
Vv^ere imprisoned for the rest of the war period, some of them 
being sent to the horrible Dartmoor prison of England, of 
which history says that the dreadful tales of suffering and 
death in the "black hole" and massacre by the guards are all 
too truthful, but the "Leo's" men were not there when the 
prison was at its very worst. 

The "George Little" was a smart hermaphrodite brig, 
mounting ten guns and a "chaser," and was owned and fitted 
at Boston. Her commander was Captain Nathaniel Spooner; 
first lieutenant, Captain Samuel Doten ; second lieutenant, 
William Holmes, and third lieutenant, — Turner, all of Plym- 
outh. The crew list contained the names of many of our 
townsmen, but as it was not preserved, only those of Jacob 
Morton, William Hammatt and William Stacy are now re- 
membered. A private log book of the voyage was kept by 
first lieutenant Doten, and is now in possession of his son, 
Captain Charles C. Doten, the first entry being : Monday, De- 
cember 26, 1814, at 2 p. m., passed Boston light, fresh gale, 
north by east, and extreme cold. At 3 p. m. chased by one of 
His Majesty's gun brigs, and outsailed her with ease." 

At that time there was a fleet of British men-of-war cruis- 
ing along the American coast from Maine to Virginia, several 
frigates and gun brigs making rendezvous at Provincetown, 
and often coming over near the Gurnet, thence running up 
off Boston and along the Cape Ann shore. It was from one 
of these brigs that the "George Little" so easily escaped and 
got to sea. The log has daily entries, that of January 7, 181 5, 
recording that William Stacy fell from the top gallant mast 
head, sending down royal yard, by the royal mast pitch 
poling, and was saved on topsail yard." "January 12, at 6.25 
a. m., made a sail four leagues away, and set chase At 11.30 
she fired a lee gun — 11.40 fired another, and set English 
colors — 11.55, seeing American colors she fired her stem 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 225 

chasers in good direction for us, but without effect, they fall- 
ing short, and in a moment struck. Proved to be the ship 
"Mary," six guns and eighteen men, James Bags, master, 
from New Foundland with fish for Lisbon. 13th took some 
articles from the prize, put IMr. Turner and nine men on 
board, and ordered her to proceed for first port in the United 
States." 

It may here be stated that the "Mary'' arrived safely at 
Marblehead, where with her cargo she was sold, yielding to 
the "George Little's" owners and men a good amount of prize 
money. The "Mary's" crew, being two to one of the "Little's" 
men put on board, attempted to retake her, but after a severe 
fight were driven below, and Jacob Morton of Plymouth, who 
was a powerful man, drew the companion slide over them, 
and upon it placed a large anchor, lifting alone the weight 
which two ordinary men would have found a test of their 
strength. 

The "George Little" held on her course across the ocean, 
intending to cruise in the English channel and take her prizes, 
if any were there secured, into French ports. Off the Azores 
or Western Islands, January 21st and 22d, she chased a ves- 
sel but lost her. January 28 she overhauled the Prussian 
schooner "Ferwarhting," from St. Michael's for Hamburg 
with fruit, and put Captain Bags, his son and mate of the 
"Mary" on board. 

"February 2 overhauled Prussian brig, "Ann Elizabeth," 
from London to St. Michael's, in ballast. Put four prisoners 
on board and ordered her to proceed. Lost both boats board- 
ing, but saved all the men." 

February 4th and 5th the privateer brig was in chase of a 
sloop, which escaped in the darkness of the second night, and 
the next day the "George Little" met her own fate, the log 
leading as follows: "February 6, made a sail on our lee bow, 
which gave chase at 8.30. Bore away, made all sail, suppos- 
ing her to be a frigate. At 9 she fired her bow chaser, which 
fell short. At 10 her shot went over us. At 11.30, finding 
no means of escape, we reluctantly struck our colors to His 
Majesty's ship "Granicus" of 36 guns. Captain William Fur- 
long Wise. So was lost the "George Little," in my opinion 
for the want of those necessaries to induce one and all to do 



226 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

their best to save her, as we were short of bread, beef — poor 
rum — g'enerally spirits sunk — this is the effect of too much 
economy privateering. So ends these 24 hours, rainy, and 
overpowering all with heavy hearts." 

The closing remarks above would indicate that the owners 
of the "George Little" had not been liberal in fitting out the 
vessel, and in consequence some discontent had existed on 
board. The "Granicus" took the prisoners to Gibraltar, where 
they were placed with others on hulks anchored in the harbor, 
and kept during March. On the 26th of that month "His 
Majesty's ship Eurylaus from the Chesapeake, arrived with 
news of the ratification of peace between the United States 
and Great Britain," and on the 29th the prisoners were em- 
barked for England in the "Eurylaus," arriving at Plymouth 
April i6th. Captain Doten's memorandum becomes personal 
after that date, and relates that on the 17th he was sent on 
board the "Ganges" 74, and on the 21st "had intelligence of the 
arrival of the Mary at Marblehead, by an American paper of 
February 24." April 24, he says he "obtained permission to go 
on shore from the Ganges," and May 3d, "smuggled myself 
on board the 'Royal Sovereign,' Captain Spence, bound to 
Boston as a cartel" — a vessel commissioned to exchange pris- 
oners. The "Royal Sovereign" had 400 prisoners, and as she 
was coming direct to Boston, Captain Doten, not being in- 
cluded in the list, took his chances as a stowaway. The vessel 
sailed from Plymouth, England, May 4th, and arrived in Bos- 
ton after a passage of 35 days. In crossing the Grand Banks 
the schooner "Almira" of Provincetown was spoken, 25 days 
from home, with 10,000 fish. 

A personal expense account appended to Captain Doten's 
journal of the "George Little's" cruise shows that at Gibraltar 
he spent $51.25, among the items being $15.25 for provisions, 
and $1.00 for liquor, a proportion which certainly was very 
moderate for those days. On board the "Ganges" his expenses 
were $14.95, ^^^ ^t Plymouth, $105.63, mostly for clothing, 
and passage home. The latter, seven pounds, was probably 
paid to Captain Spence for not finding him on board until the 
"Royal Sovereign" was at sea. The total of $171.83 paid out 
on account of capture, was recouped with a fair margin of 
profit from his share of the prize money of the "Mary." 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 227 

The lack of facilities for quick transmission of news at 
that time, is strikingly illustrated by the fact that the treaty 
to end the war was signed at Ghent, December 24, 1814, two 
days before the "George Little" sailed from Boston, so her 
entire cruise was made in a period of unknown peace. The 
battle of New Orleans, in which the British were defeated 
with a loss of 2,000 men, including the death of their com- 
manding general, Edward Pakenham, was fought January 8, 
181 5, two weeks after the agreement on articles of peace, 
which at the present time would have been known all over 
the world within a few minutes of their adoption. 

It was a custom for old shipmasters and seamen, after their 
seafaring days were over, occasionally to meet in Captain 
Doten's counting room at the head of what is now Captain E. 
B. Atwood's wharf, and while a wild northeaster howled out- 
side they would toast their shins at a good fire, smoke their 
pipes, and spin yarns of privateering days, or their experi- 
ences in various voyages to the West Indies or ports across 
the ocean. There could be no keener enjoyment to those of 
younger generations than to sit while all was blue abovit them 
from the tobacco exhalations, and listen to these "tales of the 
sea" from men who were veritable actors in the scenes so 
vividly recalled. Two incidents pertaining to Captain Doten's 
cruise in the "George Little," as her first lieutenant, thus came 
out, not written in his journal. \Mien at the time of her cap- 
lure by the "Granicus" the American flag was hauled down 
on the "George Little," Lieutenant Doten was not only cha- 
grined, but wrathy, and swore that he wouldn't surrender his 
sword to any Englishman, so he broke it across his knee. The 
boarding officer from the "Granicus" on finding him without 
side arms to give up, at once declared him not entitled to 
consideration, and ordered him ironed. This was done, and 
in that condition, with Captain Spooner, he was taken to the 
"Granicus." To the great surprise of the boarding officer who 
had thus thought to humiliate him, he was greeted by Captain 
Wise of the frigate as he stepped on the deck with, "Hallo, 
Sam! what have vou got those on for?" "Because I was a 
fool and broke my sword," was the response, at which Captain 
Wise laughed and called the master-at-arms to relieve him 
of the "bracelets," bidding him go to the private cabin. There 



228 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Captain Wise soon joined him, and over a bottle of the best, 
they renewed the acquaintance of some years before, when 
Captain Doten, then master of the brig "Dragon" of Plym- 
outh, Mass., had sailed for three years in succession under 
convoy of Captain Wise, engaged in carrying naval stores up 
the Baltic from Plymouth, England, the "Dragon" having 
been chartered by the British government among other 
merchant vessels for that purpose. This service brought Cap- 
tain Doten into quite intimate relations with many of the 
English naval officers, so that when he was a prisoner at 
Gibraltar, he was allowed many privileges. Among these was 
shore going almost daily, and passage through the batteries 
to the top of the Rock, where he could spend the time more 
agreeably than on the prison hulk. One day in going up he 
found Lieutenant Daly, who was in charge of one of the bat- 
teries, unshotting the guns, and was told by him that some 
ships in the offing were from America and signalled that the 
British had won a great victory, in honor of which he was 
ordered to fire a salute when the details were known. Much 
depressed in spirits. Captain Doten listened during the day 
for the salute, but it was not fired. Returning in the afternoon, 
Daly was then engaged in reshotting the guns, and explained 
that when the ships got nearer, the fortress had learned that 
there indeed had been a great battle "at a place called New 
Orleans," but it had resulted in a tremendous defeat for the 
British arms, and General Pakenham had been "sent home in 
a hogshead of rum." Daly — who of course was an Irishman — 
added at a low breath, "and I'm glad of it." Captain Doten 
told the great news to his fellow prisoners on the hulk, and 
that night after they had been confined below the gratings 
one of their number, a ship carpenter, who had located where 
a barrel of beer rested on the deck, bored up through the 
planks and bilge of the cask, inserting an improvised tube or 
pipe, and drew ofl^ the contents. Of course a great deal ran 
to waste, but enough was secured to make all hands feel 
mighty "merry," and they hilariously celebrated the victory of 
New Orleans, taunting the guard so outrageously, singing 
"Yankee Doodle," and bandying epithets, that they were only 
partially quieted by the gratings being removed, the guard 
drawn up around the hatchways with muskets pointed down 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 229 

into the crowd, and the threat made to fire if the disturbance 
did not cease. Undoubtedly there would have been shooting, 
but the English officers had heard rumors of peace, and under 
such circumstances the killing of unarmed prisoners would 
have been deemed murder. They "made a night of it," and 
the next day, when the loss of the beer was discovered, the 
cause of their high spirits was explained, while the shrewd 
manner in which thev had obtained the liquid for the jollifi- 
cation, was characterized by the commander of the hulk, as 
"another d — d smart Yankee trick." 

During the passage of the Royal Sovereign bringing home 
400 prisoners, she was caught in a heavy gale near the Grand 
Banks, but Captain Spence, her commander, was a good sea- 
man, and made a safe arrival at Boston. 



2T,0 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



During my youth the house now occupied by Miss Perkins, 
the daughter of the late John Perkins, was owned and occu- 
pied by George Drew, who has already been noticed. He built 
the hotel which stood on the corner of Middle street, and be- 
sides conducting a stable on that street, was largely engaged 
in the management of the Boston line of stages. Among 
other children he had a son, John Glover Drew, who was one 
of my playmates and schoolmates. John Glover was afflicted 
at times with a singular infirmity which like paralysis of the 
vocal organs would for the space of fifteen minutes disable 
him from uttering a word. I remember once his receiving a 
flogging for not answering a question put to him by the 
teacher the first time an attack occurred in school. I had a 
classmate at Harvard who for a time was afifected in the same 
way, but in both cases the infirmity finally disappeared. 

George Drew had a brother, Thomas, known as Dr. Drew, 
though I never knew of his practicing medicine, who for many 
years rendered important service in the educational field in 
Plymouth. Besides teaching a private school, he was in con- 
junction with Benjamin Drew, a teacher in the school in town 
square, and, when what was called the town school was es- 
tablished in 1827, and a school house built in that year for 
its accommodation in School street, opposite the rear land of 
the Davis building lot, he was selected as its teacher. He was 
also town clerk from 1818 to 1840, succeeding Deacon 
Ephraim Spooner in that office. He had a son, Thomas, three 
years older than myself, one of the old boys in the High school 
when I entered it in 1832. Tom was a bright fellow, and for 
many years performed valuable service as a journalist in the 
offices of the Worcester Spy and the Boston Herald. While 
William H. Lord was the teacher of the High school, a gentle- 
man, by the way, very popular with the boys, and one who 
always enjoyed a joke, it was the custom at the opening of the 
school in the morning for the scholars to rise in turn and re- 
peat a verse of scripture. On the m.orning after it became 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 23I 

known that the teacher was engaged to Aliss Persis Kendall, 
the daughter of Rev. Dr. Kendall, Tom rose in his place and 
said, "Salute Persis, the beloved of the Lord." 

John Perkins, a later occupant of the house under considera- 
tion, son of John and Sarah (Adams) Perkins of Kingston, 
married in 1825 Adeline TuDper of Kingston, and established 
himself as a hatter in Plymouth, where he ever after made his 
home. He was many years a constable of the town, and 
Deputy Sheriff, and in the year 1856 he was Sheriff of Plym- 
outh county. While constable and deputy, I have reason to 
know, as chairman of the Board of Selectmen during a long 
period, that he performed his duties with firmness, and at the 
same time with great discretion. For instance in arresting 
men for drunkenness, especially in cases where the offence 
was unusual or perhaps accidental, he was careful not to dis- 
grace them by a public exhibition of their weakness, and often 
led them by circuitous routes to their homes, exacting the 
promise of a reform which rougher treatment would have 
tended to prevent. On one occasion, however, his usual dis- 
cretion failed him. It was during the civil war when it was 
feared that confederate emissaries gathered in Canada might 
by secret invasion of our towns cause widespread damage by 
extensive conflagrations. \Miile in Boston one afternoon I 
was informed by Alexander Holmes, President of the Old 
Colony Railroad, that he had been notified by the chief of 
police of Boston that an invasion of our coast towns was ex- 
pected that night, and that extraordinar\- precautions had been 
ordered for the protection of public buildings and lumber 
yards, wharves and freight houses. As I had an appointment 
in Boston that evening and could not return home, I tele- 
graphed to Mr. Perkins to place a dozen or fifteen watchmen 
in various places, stating my reason, but telling him to say 
nothing about it for fear of a popular alarm. When I came 
home the next da}- I was a little mortified to find that the 
story had been told, and that the whole town had been through 
the night in a fever of excitement, and consternation. I con- 
soled myself, however, with the belief that I had done my 
duty and would have been unable to justify myself if I had 
failed to act on the information received, and any untoward 
act had occurred. The same precautions were taken in the 



232 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

cities on the coast, but with less notoriety. Mr. Perkins died 
August 20, 1877. 

There was another alarm which occurred in 1871 or 1872, 
which it may be well to mention here of which nothing was 
known except by those immediately concerned. A letter was 
received from New York at the Plymouth Bank, of which I 
was president, in which the writer stated that he had overheard 
a plan to enter and rob the bank on or about a certain night, 
and advised that proper precautions be taken. Watchmen 
were placed in my house, and in that of the cashier, and extra 
watchmen in the bank. In those days it was frequently the 
plan for bank burglars to secure the officers having the keys, 
and carrying them to the bank to force them to open the safe. 
The bank watchmen were consequently instructed to admit no 
one to the bank on any pretense, even if accompanied by the 
officers themselves. After I think the second or third night 
of watching, the writer of the letter appeared at the bank, and 
said that the plan had been given up. The men in New York 
had either heard from their pal, who had been some time in 
Plymouth, that he had discovered indications of unusual pre- 
cautions on the part of the bank, or for some other reason 
had decided to abandon the scheme. If the writer of the let- 
ter had demanded or asked for money, his story might have 
been thought a fake, but as he betrayed no wish for compen- 
sation, and was perfectly satisfied with the payment of twenty- 
five dollars for his expenses, I came to the conclusion that he 
was a stool pigeon, under pay from the New York police, and 
neither asked nor expected pay from the bank. 

An actual entry of the bank occurred on the 13th of Jan- 
uary, 1830. Pelham Winslow Warren, brother of the late 
Dr. Winslow Warren of Plymouth, about to leave town for a 
season to attend to his duties as clerk of the Massachusetts 
House of Representatives, deposited for safe keeping his sil- 
ver and plate in the vault in the basement of the bank, whose 
place of business was at that time the southerly end of the 
building which stood where the Russell building now stands. 
The deposit consisted of nine silver table spoons, twelve silver 
teaspoons, two silver ladles, one pair of silver sugar tongs, 
one silver toast rack, one silver fish knife ; and these plated ar- 
ticles, one coffee pot, one teapot, one sugar dish, one cream 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 233 

pot, one cake basket, and two pairs of candlesticks, all of 
which were marked J. T., the initials of Jeanette Taylor, the 
maiden name of Mr. Warren's wife. All of the above arti- 
cles were stolen, and the entry was made through a back 
window by means of a short ladder, evidently cut from a long- 
er one, the other part of which was afterwards found in the 
back yard of a resident of the town. None of the property 
of the bank was missing, except a roll of twenty ten cent 
pieces, which happened to be in the basement vault. It was 
evident that the burglar knew of the deposit of the silver, and 
was probably a Plymouth man, as no attempt was made to 
enter the safe in the banking room. Strong suspicions were 
entertained of a man, whom I remember very well, but no 
arrest was ever made. 

For many years the two houses next but two north of the 
Perkins house, were at different times owned and occupied 
by Johnson Davee, who was a son of Solomon and Jedidah 
(Sylvester) Davee. He was a mason by trade, and married 
in 1823, Phebe, daughter of Ephraim Finney. He was one 
of the water commissioners who made a contract with the Jer- 
sey City cement pipe company to lay the pipe for the Plym- 
outh water works. In the performance of his duties as com- 
missioner he rendered important service to both the town and 
the company by following with trowel in hand the laying of 
the pipe and assuring himself that every foot had a sufficient 
covering of cement properly mixed and laid. He ^vas a man 
of brains, and used them so that he often found himself en- 
countering public opinion, which was said by Carlyle to be 
the opinion of fools. He died December 25, 1882. Ezra 
Johnson Davee, his son, born in 1824, entered about 1840 the 
counting room of Langdon & Co., a Boston house in the 
Smyrna trade, and after a few years, on the death of the 
Smyrna bookkeeper he was sent out to take charge of the bus- 
iness until another man could be sent out to take his place. 
He has been there ever since either managing the affairs of 
Langdon & Co., or his own for more than forty years, visit- 
ing his family in Plymouth about once in five years. I made 
a passage with him in 1895 in the Cephalonia on his return 
from one of these visits, and now in 1905 he has just sailed 
August I, in the Ivernia for Liverpool, at the age of eighty- 



234 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

one, with the vigor of middle Hfe scarcely impaired. He 
married in Smyrna Betsey Ghout and Amelia Marion Ghout, 
the latter accompanying him on his late visit home. 

The northerly house of the two owned by Mr. Davee was 
kept as a public house, under the name of the Old Colony 
House for some years prior to 1871, by N. M. Perry, who was 
a native of either Norfork or Worcester county. He had pre- 
viously kept the Mansion House on the corner of North and 
Court streets, and later after living in Whitman a short time, 
he returned to Plymouth and kept what is now the Plymouth 
Rock House, called by him the Old Colony House, where he 
died July 17, 1877, 

Coomer Weston of whom I next speak, was the son of 
Coomer and Patty (Cole) Weston, and was born in 1784. 
He was the keeper of the jail some years, which position he 
resigned in 1829, and moved into the house now occupied by 
Mrs. Wm. S. Danforth, where he lived until 1839 or 1840, 
when he built a house on the corner of Court street and 
Faunce's lane, now Allerton street, where he died July 7, 
1870. He was the first captain of the Standish Guards. 
During the last thirty years of his life he was interested in 
raising fruit, especially apples and pears, and in horticulture. 
He married in 1804 Hannah, daughter of Jabez Doten, dnd had 
Coomer, 1805, who was also at one time captain of the Stand- 
ish Guards ; Francis Henri, 1807, an enterprising shipmaster ; 
Hannah Doten, 1809; Ann Maria, 1813; Lydia, 1818; Thom- 
as, 1 82 1, a clergyman settled at various times in various towns, 
and our townsman, Myles Standish Weston. 

In 1849 Lemuel Bradford opened a store called the North 
end grocery, where the Cold Spring Grocery store now stands, 
and up to that time there were only three stores where there 
are now twenty-seven between North street and the Kingston 
line. At the date above mentioned there were two hotels in 
the town, while now there are six open all the year, and 
four more open only during the summer. As an indication 
of the extension of the town towards the North, it may be 
stated that while in 1880 the center of population was in the 
center of Ley den. Market and Summer streets, it was in 1900, 
at the house of Capt. E. B. Atwood on Court street. It is 
probable that it will be found under the last census to be still 
further North. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 235 

In a modest house a little beyond the North end grocery on 
the east side of the street there lived for many years one of 
the uncles of the town. Every town has its uncles, and 
wherever you find them they are sterling, upright men, who 
have a kindly and afifectionate word for and from everybody. 
Peter Holmes was the man known only as Uncle Peter, a ship- 
master in his early days who sailed for my grandfather, and 
whose letters written from foreign ports, which I have read, 
show him to have been skilful and trusted in his profession. 
My young readers will be fortunate if they find as worthy a 
man as my old Uncle Peter. He died July 17, 1869. He 
married in 1801 Sally, daughter of Lazarus Harlow, and had 
five sons, one of whom was our late townsman, Peter Holmes, 
who lived in the house now occupied by Dr. Brown on North 
street, and six daughters, two of whom married our venerable 
townsman, William Rider Drew. 

There was another uncle, Uncle Lem, sailmaker by trade, 
whose soul was as white as the canvas on which he worked. 
He was the son of Lemuel and Abigail (Pierce) Simmons, 
and was born in 1790. He married in 1818 Priscilla, daugh- 
ter of Thomas Sherman, and died December 6, 1863. No 
truer inscription was ever cut on a gravestone than that which 
says in simple, unaffected words that, "he was universally be- 
loved and respected ; honest and upright, with a cheerful, 
pleasant manner, and a kind, benevolent heart. To know 
him was to love him." 

There was still another uncle of whom I am glad of an 
opportunity to say a word as the tribute of a friend to his 
memory. Uncle Ed. Watson, the Lord of the Isle, was in 
many respects a remarkable man. Born and bred on Clark's 
Island at the entrance of Plymouth harbor about four miles 
from town, and eighty acres in extent, he there spent his life 
a sailor and fisherman when occasion demanded, always a 
farmer familiar with the secrets which nature is ready to dis- 
close to her lovers, a poet of no mean acquirements, and above 
all a student of the events of the world, a philosopher who 
acted his philosophy without preaching it, and who as much 
deserves the title of sage as some who in a broader field won 
a more notorious name. He did not talk philosophy as Haw- 
thorne described Emerson and Thoreau talking it, leaning on 



236 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Iheir hoes in the £2^arden with Alcott sitting on the fence dis- 
coursing- on the "Why and the Wherefore," but as he labor- 
iously tilled the soil he recognized in every stone and worm 
and blade of grass the prodigality of nature, and in every an- 
nual bloom of the buttercup and rose a lesson of obedience to 
the laws of God. He said to me once, "Oh, Mr. Davis, if all 
were as obedient to the divine will as the blossoms on yonder 
apple tree, by Geo. Germain, what a world this would be." 
In his island home he was hospitable to the last degree. Visi- 
tors came to his grounds as if they were public, and if friends 
were among them he dropped his hoe or spade or scythe to en- 
tertain them when his labor in the field could ill be spared, and 
perhaps invited them to partake of his noonday meal, but like 
Sir Roderick: 

"Yet not in action, word or eye, 
Failed aught in hospitality." 

I was one day at Plymouth Rock with Wm. E. Forster, who 
had recently distinguished himself by his efforts in parliament 
in favor of the educational bill, when Mr. Watson came up 
the wharf with a kinnerkin in one hand, and a pair of chick- 
ens in the other. T introduced him to Mr. Foster as a member 
of the English parliament, and he asked if the gentleman was 
Wm. E. Forster — Forster, with an "r," and when assured that 
he was, he said, "I am glad to see you. I know all about you, 
that last education speech you made hit the nail on the head." 
The two then engaged in conversation on English affairs, and 
after they separated I pointed out to Mr. Forster the island on, 
which Mr. Watson was born, and had always lived, having 
had only a schooling of three months in all his life. "You 
astonish me," he replied, adding, "why that man knows more 
about English politics than three-fourths of the members of 
parliament." 

To give him his full name, Edward Winslow Watson, son 
of John and Lucia Marston Watson, was born December 17, 
1797, and died where he was born, August 8, 1876. His 
funeral was unique and impressive. The green bottom lap 
streak boat in which many hundreds of times he had stem- 
med the winds and tide was the catafalque which bore him to 
town, while the boats of his island and Saquish and Gurnet 
friends, like white-winged angels, attended him to his rest. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 237 

In closing- this notice of my friend I will quote from his little 
book of poems lines illustrating the serious thought which his 
mind evolved from the most trifling incidents of life : 

"Dear Jennie, that nice cranberry tart, 
You gave to me bedecked with paste, 
Lies like a bleeding, broken heart, 
Whose inner life has run to waste. 

You placed it on the basket top, 
In paper coverings still it lay, 
Mid rolling seas a lurch it got. 
And bled its inner life away. 

Its fate, how like the buoyant heart 
That o'er life's billowy ocean springs 
Till disappointment tips the bark, 
And overstrained, snap go the strings." 



238 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXV 



I speak next of the Samoset House estate, not for the pur- 
pose of following its title, but for the purpose of speaking of its 
occupants at various times. As long ago as I remember the es- 
tate extended from Court street up Wood's Lane to what is now 
Allerton street. Its Court street line extended by the line of 
the present gutter, the street being widened afterwards by cut- 
ting off a strip of that and adjoining estates on the north. 
There was a high, close board fence along the street, which I 
remember because when a boy I brought up against it a run- 
away horse which I was riding. The house on the estate was 
what is now the old part of the Samoset, and was owned and 
occupied by Mrs. Betsey H. Hodge and her father. Dr. Jas, 
Thacher, until 1827. It faced the south, and was reached by 
a driveway from Wood's Lane, and its spacious yard was 
bounded on the southwest by a carriage house and barn, a 
handsome lawn lying along Court street. The estate called 
Longwood was altogether the most aristocratic one in town, 
and at the above date, with the exception of the old Merrick 
Ryder house on the southeast corner of the Mixter lot, and an 
old red house on the corner of Lothrop Place, no houses were 
in sight at the north. In 1827, Dr. Thacher moved into the 
easterly part of the Winslow house on North street, and the es- 
tate was sold to Charles Sever, who married in that year Mrs. 
Hodge's daughter Jane. Mr. Sever was a Kingston man, 
brother of Col. John and James N. Sever, and as I have no 
recollection of his connection with any business in Plymouth, 
I think he must have been associated with his brothers in navi- 
gation and foreign trade. In 1833 Mr. Sever sold the estate 
to John Thomas, and moved temporarily into the house on 
Middle street next below Mr. Beaman's undertaker's establish- 
ment, while he was building the Sever house on Russell street, 
vv^hich he did not live to occupy, but which was occupied by his 
family until the recent death of his daughter Catherine. 

In 1837 Mr. Thomas sold the estate to Jason Hart, and re- 
moved to New York. His business connections in that city, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 239 

and his death in Irvington, have been referred to in a previous 
chapter, Mr. Hart has been already noticed as a member of 
the firm of Hart and Alderman, and in business alone where 
the store of H. H. Cole on Main street now stands. 

In 1844 the Old Colony Railroad corporation then building 
their road from Boston to Plymouth, bought the estate and 
built and furnished the Samoset House, which was opened in 
1845, under the management of Joseph Stetson, who was em- 
ployed by the road for the purpose. Mr. Stetson was suc- 
ceeded by James S. Parker and Henry C. Tribou, under the 
firm name of Parker & Tribou, who kept it under the 
direction of the railroad until 1850. In that year the house 
and furniture were sold to the Samoset House Association, 
who leased it until 1878, at various times to the following per- 
sons in the order named : Granville Gardner and Henry C. 
Tribou, under the firm name of Gardner & Tribou, James S. 
Parker, A. & N. Hoxie, Comfort Whiting and Peleg C. Chand- 
ler. In 1878, while Mr. Chandler was lessee, he bought the es- 
tate, and in 1882 his widow sold it, exclusive of house lots at its 
westerly end to T. F. Frobisher. In 1883 Mr. Frobisher sold 
the above remaining estate to Daniel H. Maynard, who sold 
it a few years ago to the present proprietors, James S. Clark 
and the late Edward E. Green doing business under the firm 
name of Clark & Green. 

While I am wandering about the North part of the town, let 
me speak of Bourne Spooner, who having been dead thirty- 
five years, cannot be remembered by any of my readers who are 
much less than fifty years of age. Few are aware to whom 
the town was indebted, for the establishment of the Plymouth 
Cordage Co., a corporation filling so large a place among the 
industries of the town, and which with its growing proportions 
promises to stand many years as a conspicuous and deserved 
monument to his memory. He was a son of Nathaniel and 
Mary (Holmes) Spooner, and was born in Plymouth, Feb- 
ruary 2, 1790. After receiving the education which our public 
schools could furnish, he went to New Orleans, where he spent 
ten years engaged in rope making, but in what capacity I have 
no means of knowing. It is probable that the material used 
in the manufacture was Kentucky hemp, as its transportation 
from the hemp fields by the Mississippi river was easy and 



240 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

cheap. It is doubtful whether sisal from Mexico was much 
used in those days and Russia hemp and Manilla could be ob- 
tained in Boston more expeditiously and cheaper than in New 
Orleans. The unprofitableness of slave labor employed in 
that city appealed to his Yankee spirit of thrift, and he con- 
ceived the idea of establishing if possible a cordage factory in 
liis native town. Returning home he kept for a time a store 
opposite the Green, and later conferred with a number of gen- 
tlemen in Boston, who looked favorably on the scheme of a 
Plymouth factory, and on the 12th of July, 1824, an act of in- 
corporation was granted by the Massachusetts legislature to 
Bourne Spooner, William Lovering, Jr., John Dodd and John 
Russell, and their associates, as the Plymouth Cordage Com- 
pany, with power to hold real estate not exceeding twenty 
thousand dollars. The location decided upon for the factory 
was in the north part of Plymouth, on a stream supplied by 
two brooks, one of which was called Nathans brook, after Na- 
than Holmes, the grandfather of Gideon F. Holmes, the pres- 
ent treasurer of the company, the capacity of which was 
twenty horse power. Thus it seems evident that any very 
considerable growth of the establishment was not anticipated. 
The part of Plymouth selected for the factory was called in 
Pilgrim days, "Plain Dealing," but in my boyhood, Bungtown, 
and a little later. North Town. When the Old Colony Rail- 
road established a station there they unwittingly adopted 
practically the old Pilgrim "Seaside," as "Plain Dealing" 
meant a plain by the sea. The growth of business set in at a 
very early day, and up to 1883, when the capital stock of the 
company was increased to half a million of dollars, only forty- 
four thousand dollars had been paid in, and all the remainder 
of the half million had been furnished by the profits of the 
company. In 1894 the capital was still further increased to 
a million, all of the increase being furnished by the stockhold- 
ers. To meet the growth of the factory business the original 
water power was supplemented by steam engines in 1837, 1839, 
1850, 1868, 1888, and 1900. The last two of these are of 
1500 and 1600 horse power. In 1827 the sales of cordage 
amounted to 601,023 pounds, and in 1899 to 19,597,644 
pounds. In addition to the above, while the first lot of bind- 
ing twine sold in 1882 amounted to 384,820 pounds, the sales 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 24I 

of the same in 1899 amounted to 27,905,981 pounds, and the 
entire product of the factory is estimated to be about one- 
seventh of the product of all the Cordage companies in the 
United States. Of the large cables made by the Company I 
have personal knowledge of one of fifteen or fifteen and a half 
inches. About the year 1865, an English steamer, named, I 
think, "Concordia," was wrecked on Cape Cod and bought by 
Boston parties. The cable, to which I refer, was ordered for 
the purpose of hauling her off shore. I was told by Osborne 
Hov/es, one of the purchasers that within forty-eight hours af- 
ter it was coiled on the beach the junk men cut it up and car- 
ried it off. The steamer was got ofif and towed to Boston, 
where she was lengthened and refitted for service. 

I have said thus much concerning the Cordage Company for 
the purpose of illustrating the sagacity, energy, good judgment 
and integrity of Mr. Spooner, who was until his death, during 
the career of the company, its agent, and after 1837, its treas- 
urer. He did his business so unostentatiously, that I think 
few of his fellow citizens realized the great work he was doing 
in building up an industry which has done so much in pro- 
moting the growth and welfare of Plymouth. Next to his 
interest in the affairs of the company intrusted to his care, 
was his interest in the anti-slavery cause. How, and exactly 
when he enlisted in the cause, I never knew. His life in New 
Orleans probably opened his eyes to the evils of the institution 
of slavery, but I do not think that he entered the anti-slavery 
ranks until after "the visit of George Thompson to Massachu- 
setts, and the Garrison mob in Boston in 1835. Among the 
earliest in Plymouth to engage in the movement, according to 
my best recollections were, Lemuel Stephens, William Ste- 
phens, Ichabod Morton, Edwin Morton, Ephraim Harlow, 
Kendall Holmes, George Adams and Deacon Wm. Putnam 
Ripley, and I think Johnson Davie and their families. Nearly 
all of these, except the Ripleys, lived on "tother side," as it 
was called, like 'Tautre cote" of Paris the other side of the 
Seine, as our "tother side" is the other side of Town Brook. 
The merchants, professional men, including ministers, and 
the politicians in both the whig and democratic parties, 
were either too timid to join the anti-slavery ranks, 
or were decidedly hostile to the anti-slavery movement. 



242 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

An anti-slavery meeting was held on the evening 
of July 4, 1835, in the Robinson church, which was disturbed 
by an incipient mob which contented itself with breaking a few 
windows, and afterwards smearing with tar the dry goods 
sign of Deacon Ripley. Though the Old Colony Memor- 
ial contained a paid advertisement of the meeting, its col- 
umns were silent concerning its doings and the disturbance. 
Jt is of little consequence how or when Mr. Spooner became 
interested in the movement. He became one of the most prom- 
inent men in the state, supporting it, and undoubtedly fur- 
nished to it material aid not exceeded in amount by the contri- 
butions of any other in its ranks. He was a constant friend 
and supporter of Garrison, Phillips, Quincy and Douglas, all 
of whom frequently enjoyed the hospitalities of his home. 

Mr. Spooner was widely known, especially by fellow travel- 
lers on the railroad, as an expert and entertaining story teller, 
and skilful in the art. He knew how to tell a story, omitting 
details, careful never to say that he had a capital story, being 
willing to leave its quality to the judgment of his listeners, 
never laughing until he had finished, and then when his com- 
panions began to laugh he would join with them as heartily 
as if he had never told the story before. He told many stories 
about his great uncle, Deacon Ephraim Spooner, which seem- 
ed to amuse some persons, the humor of which I never could 
see. 

But he had a nearer kinsman, his own uncle, Thomas 
Spooner, who was a man of both wit and humor, from whom 
he must have acquired his own delicate sense of these quali- 
ties. Thomas Spooner was at one time town treasurer, and 
many years a constable. One evening he was called upon to 
serve a precept, and while making his way in the dark through 
a private yard he encountered a clothes line, and then a second 
one which knocked off his hat. "By George," said he, "I 
never knew before what the Bible meant by 'precept upon 
precept ; line upon line.' " He was an ardent whig, and when 
returning home one day after an absence of a couple of days, 
he found posted on the town tree a notice for a democratic 
meeting. "By thunder," said he, "can't I leave town twenty- 
four hours without there being the devil to pay ?" and he pull- 
ed the notice down. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 243 

Mr. Bourne Spooner, not only as occasion offered, repeated 
stories which his tenacious memory had treasured up, but he 
found satire and humor in the incidents of every day life, 
which he often used to point a moral, as for instance, the case 
of the old lady who had a husband somewhat addicted to pro- 
fanity, and who when rebuked by a sister of the church then 
attending" revival meetings because she bestowed so much care 
on her husband, who she said was a bad man, replied, "I know 
sister, my husband is a very bad man, and has little to expect 
in the next world, so I feel it my duty to do what I can for 
his comfort and happiness in this." 

Mr. Spooner was a tender hearted man, especially towards 
his workmen and their families. An instance of his tender 
feelings once came under my own observation. The Cordage 
Company did their banking business in Boston, discounting 
once a month at the Old Colony Bank a note to obtain bills 
for the monthly pay roll. During one of the financial panics 
when money was almost impossible to obtain, he came one day 
into the Plymouth Bank in despair. He said that he could 
not get a dollar in the Old Colony Bank, and Mr. Dodd, his 
Boston director, could not obtain a dollar in Boston. He had 
put off the settlement of his payroll two or three times, and 
he was afraid to go home and meet the disappointed looks of 
his men, whose families were in absolute need of their wages. 
As he said this, I noticed the tears trickling down his cheeks. 
It so happened, either by good luck or good lookout, we had 
for some time been confining our discounts to short paper, 
and our maturities were keeping us well supplied with funds. 
We gave him the money, charging him only 7 per cent, while 
as the following incident will show, money was worth 
more than double that rate. A day or two afterwards I met 
on Water street, Boston, the President and Treasurer of a 
large manufacturing concern in Taunton, who asked me if I 
would let him have ten thousand dollars. I told him that I 
would, and should charge him for it on a four months' note, 
fifteen per cent. He turned on his heel and left me. An hour 
after I met him in the National Bank of Redemption, and he 
asked me if my offer held good. I told him it did, and the 
loan was made then and there. 

Mr. Spooner married in 1813, Hannah, daughter of Amasa 
and Sarah (Taylor) Bartlett, and died July 21, 1870. 



244 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

All throug-h my boyhood there were two brothers living on 
adjoining estates on the easterly side of Court street, Leavitt 
Taylor Robbins and Nathan Bacon Robbins, sons of Charles 
and Mary (Bacon) Robbins. The former lived in the house 
now owned by Miss Elizabeth N. Perkins from the time of his 
marriage in 1831, until his death, owning a large estate of 
from fifteen to twenty acres extending from Court street to the 
shore. He built a wharf and established a lumber yard about 
183 1, which he carried on forty years or more, until his death, 
and which was afterwards carried on by his son, Leavitt Tay- 
lor Robbins, Jr., until his recent death. During that long 
period it was carried on by father and son under the same 
name seventy-five years, always with the highest credit and 
probably longer known on the Kennebec and Penobscot than 
any other lumber yard in Massachusetts. Mr. Robbins, born 
in 1 799, married in 1 83 i,Lydia, daughter of Ephraim Fuller of 
Kingston, and had Lydia Johnson, 1833, who married Noah P. 
Burgess; Elizabeth Fuller, 1834, who married Nathaniel Mor- 
ton; Leavitt Taylor, 1837, who married Louisa A. Bradford, 
and Mrs. Anna V. (Wright) Southgate, Lemuel Fuller, 1839, 
Helen F., who married Edward G. Hedge, and Sarah B., and 
died September 24, 1871. Nathan Bacon Robbins owned and 
occupied the house now owned and occupied by Mrs. Fred- 
erick N. Knapp, and was a shipmaster by profession, sailing 
I believe, chiefly in the employ of John and James N. Sever 
of Kingston. One of the ships commanded by him was the 
Brookline. Born in 1797, he married in 1819, Lucia W., 
daughter of George Rider, and second in 1830, Lucia Ripley, 
of Kingston, and died December 24, 1865. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 2^5 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

I trust that I may be pardoned if I speak of my brother, 
Charles G. Davis, of whose early life, though only two years 
have elapsed since his death, most of my readers know little 
or nothing. The son of William Davis, Jr., and Joanna 
(White) Davis, he was born May 30, 1820, in the house now 
known as the Plymouth Rock House on Cole's Hill. After 
receiving a common school education in Plymouth, he was 
fitted for college, under the direction of Hon. John A. Shaw 
of Bridgewater, and graduated at Harvard in 1840. He 
studied law in the office of Jacob H. Loud of Plymouth, at 
the Harvard Law school, and in the office of Hubbard and 
Watts in Boston, and was admitted to the bar in Plymouth 
at the August term of the Common Pleas Court in 1842, es- 
tablishing himself in practice in Boston, where he remained 
until 1853. During bis nine years residence in Boston, he was 
at various times in partnership with William H. Whitman, 
George P. Sanger and Seth Webb. In 1848 he was one of the 
prominent organizers of the Free Soil Party, and was a dele- 
gate to the Buffalo Convention, which nominated Martin Van 
Buren for President, and Charles Francis Adams for Vice 
President. 

In 185 1 he was tried before Benjamin F. Hallet, U. S. Com- 
missioner, for complicity in the rescue of Shadrach, a fugitive 
slave. The charge was that as he was entering the court 
room, Shadrach was going out, and that he held the door in 
such a way as to make the escape effectual. Though he was 
acquitted, I never knew how much or how little, if at all, he 
aided the negro in his flight. In 1853 Mr. Davis was a mem- 
ber of the state constitutional convention, and in that year 
changed his residence to Plymouth, and building a house, es- 
tablished there his permanent home. In 1856 he was appoint- 
ed a member of the State Board of Agriculture, and in the 
same year chosen President of the Plymouth County Agricul- 
tural Society, retaining the latter office until 1876. In 1859 
he was chosen an overseer of Harvard University. In 1861 



246 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

he was appointed by Gov. Andrew on a commission to propose 
a plan for a State Agricultural College, and after the estab- 
lishment of that institution, served as one of its trustees many 
years. In 1862 he represented his town in the General Court, 
and in the same year was appointed under the U. S. Revenue 
law assessor for the first District, holding that office until 
1869, In 1874 he was appointed Judge of the 3d District 
Court, and remained on the bench until his death. He loved 
his native town, and was always recognized as a public spirit- 
ed man, who would make a liberal response to every call aim- 
ing at its "welfare. He built Davis building in 1854, the brick 
block at the corner of Railroad avenue in 1870, and was for 
many years the largest individual holder of real estate in the 
town. He married November 19, 1845, Hannah Stevenson, 
daughter of Col. John B. Thomas and Mary (LeBaron) 
Thomas, and has two children living, Joanna, wife of Richard 
H. Morgan, and Charles S. Davis, a graduate at Harvard in 
1880, and now practicing law in Plymouth. 

As thirty-seven years have elapsed since the death of Rob- 
ert B, Hall, I am inclined to think that three-quarters of my 
readers know no more concerning him than that his widow 
was until her recent death a much respected resident in Plym- 
outh. Mr. Hall was the son of Charles and Catherine Hall, 
and was born in Boston, January 12, 1812. He had not as far 
as I know a collegiate education, but prepared for the Con- 
gregational ministry at the Yale Divinity school. After leav- 
ing the school he spent two years in Europe, where he grati- 
fied his taste not only by literary pursuits, but also by the 
study of art in its various forms. He served also during his 
absence as an agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society. 
In 1837, soon after his return, he was settled over the Third 
Society in Plymouth, whose place of worship was on Pleasant 
street, opposite Training Green. In that year he delivered an 
address before the Pilgrim Society on the anniversary of the 
Landing of the Pilgrims, and in 1839 on the same occasion an 
address before the Third church. In 1841 he delivered an ad- 
dress at the dedication of Oak Grove cemetery. 

In 1840, largely through his influence, the present church 
on the north side of Town Square was built under the name 
of the Church of the Pilgrimage, and a new society was 
formed called the Society of the Pilgrimage. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 247 

In 1844 Mr. Hall became Episcopalian in faith, and at his 
house on the 15th of November in that year, the present Epis- 
copal Society was formed, and on the 3d of October, 1846, the 
church on Russell street was consecrated with Theodore W. 
Snow, rector, who had been chosen on the 13th of the pre- 
vious April. At about that time Mr. Hall was called to St. 
James' Episcopal church in Roxbury, where he remained sev- 
eral years. In 1849 he returned to Plymouth, where he 
preached for a time in the Robinson church, and soon after 
built the house on the corner of Lothrop Place, which he made 
his home until his death. In 1855 he joined the Know Noth- 
ing movement, and was chosen State Senator, and in 1856 he 
was chosen by the Know Nothings, member of Congress: 
In 1858 on the termination of the Know Nothing party, he 
was sent back to Congress by the Republicans, thus serving 
two terms in Washington. After his retirement from public 
life he devoted himself to literary pursuits, and in 1864 de- 
livered the oration at the dedication of the Masonic building 
in Boston on the corner of Tremont and Boylston streets. 

Mr. Hall married in 1841 Abby Mitchell, daughter of Na- 
thaniel Morton Davis, and died April 15, 1868. 

I suppose that few of my readers know that Jonathan Walk- 
er, the man with the branded hand, ever lived in Plymouth. 
About fifty years ago, or perhaps a little earlier, he lived in the 
liouse now standing in what is called the Nook at the head; 
waters of Hobb's Hole brook. I do not remember to have 
ever seen him, but I recall the time when he was complained 
of for shingling his house on the Sabbath. He was born in 
Harvard, Mass., March 22, 1799, and at the age of seventeen 
went to sea. When quite young he assisted Benjamin Lundy 
in colonizing slaves in Mexico, and for a time lived with his 
family in Florida. In 1844 he assisted four slaves to escape 
by water, but was overtaken and captured with his companions 
by a Revenue Cutter, which was sent in pursuit. He was car- 
ried to Pensacola, and after trial for his offense was sentenced 
to stand one hour in the pillory, to pay a fine of one hundred 
and fifty dollars, and be branded on the hand with the letters 
S. S., signifying slave stealer. It is creditable to Southern 
humanity that a blacksmith refused to heat the instrument of 
torture. He remained in prison eleven months in default of 



248 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

payment of the fine, and was then by the aid of Northern 
friends released. After his release he delivered lectures in 
various Northern towns, and then settled down in Plymouth. 
In 1863 he bought a farm in Lake Harbor, Michigan, and 
carried on the business of raising fruit until his death, April 
30, 1875. He left behind him in Plymouth a son John, whom 
I knew very well, and whom it fell to me once to aid during 
a pecuniary embarrassment. His father had neglected his 
education, but he was a noble fellow in whose presence I al- 
ways felt that I was in the presence of a man. 

I think he was one of not more than twenty men v/hose per- 
sonality during my long life has impressed me. He always 
called me William, and I always called him John. I would 
have trusted to him my life in any emergency, for I knew 
that he would have risked his own to save the life of a fellow 
man. He held a commission as pilot for some years, and in 
appearance an ideal pilot he was. With his broad Scotch face, 
almost buried in hair and whiskers, it was easy to imagine 
him in his tarpaulin and oil clothes beating his pilot lugger 
up channel in a heavy sea. About eight years ago he went to 
Michigan to live with a sister on a farm which his father had 
occupied, and a few months ago I heard of his death. 

I have spoken of Joseph Bartlett, who lived on the corner 
of Court street and Court square, but there was another 
Joseph Bartlett of whom probably few of my readers have 
ever heard. He was a man of diversified talents, of diversi- 
fied traits of character, and led a diversified life. He was 
author, poet, orator, lecturer, lawyer, merchant, gambler, pris- 
oner for debt, and generally an adventurer. He was son of 
Sylvanus and Martha (Wait) Bartlett, and was born in Plym- 
outh in 1 761. His father was a well to do merchant, who 
owned real estate in the neighborhood of the present junction 
of High and Russell streets. He had a sister, Sophia, who 
married Benjamin Drew, the father of our late deceased friend, 
Benjamin Drew, and I have always supposed that our friend 
inherited his brilliant talents from his mother's side of the 
house. Mr. Bartlett graduated at Harvard in 1782, and 
studied law in Salem, and was recommended to be sworn as 
attorney in 1788. Soon after the close of the revolution he 
went to England, and in London, attracted by his eccentri- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 249 

cities and wit much attention. One evening at the theatre 
during the performance of a play in which American soldiers 
were caricatured as cobblers, tailors and tinkers, he stood up 
in the pit and called for cheers for the army of cobblers, tailors 
and tinkers who had defeated the British. The interference 
so far from being resented, was taken in good part, and the 
young Londoners took him into their companionship and in- 
vited him to the clubs where he was for a time made much of. 
He afterwards fell into gambling habits, and finally was im- 
prisoned for debt. He wrote a play, and from the proceeds 
of its sale obtained a release, after which for a short time he 
appeared on the stage. After his return home he opened a 
law office in Woburn, and painted it black, calling it "the 
coffin" to attract notice. He afterwards removed to Cam- 
1)ridge, and in 1799 delivered a poem before the Harvard Phi 
Beta Kappa Society on "Physiognomy," in which some of his 
allusions, like the following, were believed to be personal : 

"First on the list observe that woman's form, 
Who looks a very monster in a storm. 
Her skinny lips, her pointed nose behold, 
And say if nature's marked her for a scold; 
Observe her chin, her every feature trace. 
And see the fury trembling in her face ; 
By nature made to mar the joys of life; 
And damn that man vi^ho has her for a wife." 

In 1823 he delivered a Fourth of July oration in Boston, 
and recited a poem entitled, "The New Vicar of Bray." At 
one time in his varied career he was a member of the Maine 
legislature, and at another had a law office in Portsmouth, N. 
H. In 1823 he published a collection of "Aphorisms on men, 
manners, principles and things," and also an essay on "The 
blessings of poverty," prefaced by the following Imes : 

I tell thee Poverty that you and I 

Have friendly met together; 

Thou art the soul of minstrelsy 

In every kind of weather. 

Through all life's journey thou hast not 

From me an hour departed ; 

Thou never hast my track forgot, 

Which proves thee most true hearted. 

I have two letters from Mr. Bartlett to my grandfather, 
William Davis, soliciting aid, and one to my grandfather from 



250 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

President Kirkland of Harvard University, inclosing thirteen 
dollars contributed by a few Cambridge gentlemen with the 
request that he would use it for Mr. Bartlett's benefit. He 
married Anna Mav, daughter of Thomas Witherell of Plym- 
outh, and died in Boston, October 21, 1827. 

Of Perez Morton, a Plymouth man, and one of the most 
distinguished members of the Massachusetts bar in the latter 
part of the eighteenth century, and the first half of the nine- 
teenth, probably few of my Plymouth readers have ever 
heard. He was son of Joseph and Amiah (Bullock) Morton 
of Plymouth, and was born October 22, 1750. He graduated 
at Harvard in 1771, and was recommended to be sworn as 
attorney in 1774. In 1786 he was made a Barrister, and on 
the 7th of September, 18 10, he was appointed Attorney 
General. At the time of the appointment of Mr. Mor- 
ton as Attorney General, the office of Solicitor General 
was occupied by Daniel Davis, who had been ap- 
pointed January 20, 1802, under an act passed March 4, 
1800, reviving the office which had been discontinued for a 
time after the revolution. In 1821 it having been the general 
feeling for some time that the two offices were unnecessary, 
the legislature, while unwilling on account of the respect en- 
tertained for their incumbents, to abolish either, passed an act 
providing "that whenever the office of Attorney General or 
Solicitor General shall become vacant by death, resignation oc 
otherwise, the salary annexed to the office, which shall first 
so become vacant as aforesaid, shall thenceforth cease and de- 
termine." As neither death nor resignation occurred, an act 
was passed March 14, 1832, to take effect June i, abolishing 
both offices and establishing the office of Attorney General 
for the Commonwealth. On the 31st of May, therefore, 1832, 
Air. Morton went out of office, and James T. Austin was ap- 
pointed under the new law. Attorney General of the Common- 
wealth. Sarah Morton, the wife of Perez, was an author- 
ess of some repute. She wrote a book entitled, "The power 
of Sympathy," a copy of which is in the library of the Pil- 
grim Society, which is claimed to have been the first American 
novel. Mr. Morton died in Boston, October 14, 1837. 

I cannot pass bv Court Square without a notice of Mrs. 
Nicolson's boarding house, which stood many years on the 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 25 1 

north side of the Square. Thomas Nicholson, son of James, 
came into possession of the house after the death of his father 
in 1772. He married for a second wife about 1790, Hannah, 
daughter of John Otis, and sister of Mrs. Grace Heyman God- 
dard, already noticed as the mother of Mrs. Abraham Jack- 
son. Thomas Nicolson was a shipmaster, and I believe was 
for some time before his death in the United States Revenue 
Service, and died on the island of Gaudaloupe, February 9, 

1798. 

He was also during the revolution commander of the pri- 
vateer sloop America, carrying six swivels and seventy men, 
owned by William Watson, Ephraim Spooner and others. 
Capt. Nicolson had by his first wife Sarah Mayhew, nine 
children: Sarah, 1771 ; Hannah, 1773; Polly, 1775; Elizabeth, 
1777; Lucy Mayhew, 1778; Nancy, 1780; Thomas, 1782; 
James, 1784, and Anna. Of these Hannah married John 
Morong; Polly married John Allen of Salem, and Anna mar- 
ried John D. Wilson of Salem. Lucy Mayhew died in Boston, 
January 21, 1858. By his second wife, Hannah Otis, he had 
Samuel, 1791, who married Sarah Brinley, and died m Boston, 
January 6, 1866; Hannah Otis, 1793, who married William 
Spooner; Daniel, 1796, who died March 6, 181 5; Caroline, 
1798, who married Edward Miller of Quincy. 

The estate when Capt. Nicolson died extended from the 
present yard of Mr. Hedge to the line of Mr, Bittinger, and 
consisted of the main house and a range of outbuildings 
which included a woodshed, chaise house, ice house and bam, 
with a large garden in the rear. After Capt. Nicolson's death, 
but precisely when I do not know, Mrs. Nicolson fitted up her 
house as an inn, and called it the Old Colony House. The 
Pilgrim House was the stage house, and Mrs. Nicolson's 
house was the lawyer's house. The judges, however, sought 
private lodgings, and I remember that Chief Justice Shaw al- 
ways occupied a front parlor in the house opposite Court 
square, which was the residence of Ichabod Shaw, where the 
Methodist church now stands. Among the regular boarders 
in the Old Colony House whom I remember were Samuel 
Davis, Ebenezer G. Parker, cashier of the Old Colony Bank, 
Gustavus Gilbert, attorney, Eliab Ward, student at law, Isaac 
N. Stoddard and Hiram Fuller, teachers. During the sessions 



252 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

of the court it was the gathering place of the lawyers who, 
without railroad conveniences, made a week of it under Mrs. 
Nicolson's roof. There might be found Charles J. Holmes of 
Rochester, Seth Miller of Wareham, Zachariah Eddy of Mid- 
dleboro, Williams Latham of Bridgewater, William Baylies and 
Austin Packard of West Bridgewater, Welcome Young of 
East Bridgewater, Kilborn Whitman of Pembroke, and Eben- 
ezer Gay of Hingham. To these were sometimes added 
James T. Austin, Attorney General, Franklin Dexter and 
Rufus Choate. Timothy Coffin of New Bedford generally at- 
tended the Plymouth court, and was sought for in many cases 
on one side or the other to make the argument to the jury. 
If he could find anybody to play a game of cards he would 
play nearly all night, and come into court in the morning look- 
ing as fresh as a rose. The house was a rambling one with 
sleeping rooms arranged in such a way that it was difficult 
to find them. There was one in particular through which it 
was necessary for the occupants of the other rooms to pass. 
This room was assigned on one occasion to Mr. Choate, whose 
habit it was to retire early. In the morning when he appeared 
at the breakfast table and was asked how he had slept, he an- 
swered, "Very well, I thank you, considering I slept in the 
highway." As the lawyers sat by the fire in the evening, Mr. 
Eddy in a dressing gown, and Mr. Latham securing a seat 
near the spittoon, occasionally some one would say, "Packard, 
are we there?" To understand this question, a story must be 
told. In the early days of the Old Colony Railroad, just after 
what was called the Abington branch was built, the lawyers I 
have named met at Bridgewater to take the train for Abing- 
ton to meet the last train to Plymouth to attend the usual ses- 
sion of the court. When the branch train reached East Bridge- 
water, Packard, who thought he knew all about the road, 
jumped up and said, "Warl guntlemen, here we ar," and they 
lW got out to find the train going on, and themselves in a 
dreary station, on a cold and dark November nighty seventeen 
miles from Plymouth. There was only one thing to do, to hire 
an omnibus, which they promptly did, and they reached their 
destination about half past ten, cold, hungry and cross. 
Hence the inquiry, "Packard, are we there?" All the gentle- 
men named are dead, and were doubtless met by Packard on 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 253 

the further shore with "Warl gentlemen, here we ar." I hope 
he has not landed them at the wrong station. 

In 1836 Mrs. Nicolson gave up the public house, and moved 
to Boston to live with her daughter, Mrs. Miller, and died in 
that city, June 22, 1844. The Old Colony House was kept 
afterwards by Zaben Olney and William Randall, and after a 
further occupation as a private residence by Moses Bates and 
Theodore Drew, was sold in 1835 to Mary Howard Russell 
and taken down. 

On the south side of Court square on the corner of School 
street, there lived until 1839 ^ worthy old man, who for some 
years was stone blind. He was Joseph Barnes, the great- 
grandfather of our townsman, bearing the same name. He 
carried, extended out in front of him, a staff about eight feet 
long, with which he tapped the sidewalk constantly, and di- 
rected his steps without any other guide or support. It was 
his privilege to live in days when bicycles, automobiles and 
trolley cars had not been invented to endanger the lives of 
even the far-seeing and wary. As I remember him he walked 
alone through the various streets of the town, and if occasion- 
al aid became necessary in avoiding some new obstruction, 
both old and young were ready to lend it. His wife kept a 
little candy shop, if so it may be called, in the front room on 
the east side of the front door, and there children who thought 
it too far to go to Nancy and Eliza's shop on Market street, 
patronized her. It was a queer kind of a shop, showing as 
its only furniture a bed and chairs, and looking glass and 
table. Under the bed three or four spice boxes were placed 
in a row, containing in tempting neatness assortments of 
candy comprising the usual twisted parti-colored sticks, and 
kisses and Salem Gibralters. How these last received their 
name, and why their manufacture should have been confined 
to Salem, I never knew, but there they were made, and there 
they are made today, and if any of my young readers never 
saw them, they had better induce their grocer to send for some 
ynd keep them in stock. Their makers are welcome to this 
gratuitous advertisement. Air. Barnes died January 28, 1839, 
and the house in which he lived was occupied some years 
by Nathaniel Cobb Lanman, and finally removed to Lothrop 
street, when Court square was widened in 1857. 



254 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



Through all my boyhood Nathaniel Morton Davis occupied 
the house on Court street, now owned by the Old Colony 
Club, except for a year, when, while repairing the house, he 
occupied for a year or more the house on Leyden street, which 
his mother had occupied before her removal to Boston. The 
house at that time had its front door on the southerly side 
where an arch may now be seen in the front hall. On the west 
side of the front door there was a good sized parlor, which 
reached within about three feet of the street. What is now 
the library, lapped far enough by the above parlor to admit 
of a door from one to the other, and was the law office of Mr. 
Davis, with an outside entrance north of the parlor above 
mentioned. 

Mr. Davis was the son of William and Rebecca Morton 
Davis, and was born in Plymouth March 3, 1785. He gradu- 
ated at Harvard in 1804, and after studying law with Judge 
Joshua Thomas, was admitted to the bar in Plymouth. He 
was appointed early in his career Judge Advocate, with the 
rank of Major, which title he bore through life. In 1821 he 
was appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Sessions, and 
served until the court was abolished in 1828. He was at vari- 
ous times representative and senator, and was a member of 
the executive council from 1841 to 1843. He was a director 
of the Plymouth Bank from 1826 to 1839, and from 1840 to 
1S48. and President from 1840 until his death. He was a 
man of commanding presence, an impressive speaker, and was 
selected on several public occasions to act as presiding officer. 
The first time I saw him in the President's chair was at a 
whig county celebration on the Fourth of July, 1840, when 
the chief address of the day was made by Robert C. Winthrop. 
His speech and his toasts calling up the speakers were un- 
usually happy, Martin Van Buren, who had succeeded An- 
drew Jackson as President, and was a candidate for re-elec- 
tion, had many times boasted of following in the footsteps of 
his illustrious predecessor, and Mr. Davis gave as one of the 
sentiments, "Martin Van Buren, he has followed so fast in the 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 255 

footsteps of his illustrious predecessor, that he has accom- 
plished his journey in half the time." 

Mr. Davis married, July 8, 1817, Harriet Lazell, daughter 
of Judge Nahum Mitchell of East Bridgewater, and his chil- 
dren were William, born May 12, 1818, who married Decem- 
ber 2, 1849, Helen, daughter of John Russell ; Abby Mitchell, 
born November 9, 1821, who married in 1841 Robert B. Hall, 
and Elizabeth Bliss, born November 8, 1824, who married 
Henry G. Andrews. Mr. Davis died at the United States 
Hotel in Boston, July 29, 1848. 

In 1849, William Davis, previous to his marriage, cut off 
the westerly end of the house in question, and it was moved to 
a lot on Court street, opposite the foot of Cushman street, 
where it now stands the property of Charles B. Bartlett. I 
have never known a more complete mutilation of a house than 
that caused by the alteration to which I have referred. . 

Before leaving Mr. Davis I must tell a story about his dog 
Ponto, which illustrates the intelligence often found in the 
canine race. He was an ordinary black and white cur, which, 
as is often the case with favorite dogs, was equally a delight 
to his master, and a nuisance to everybody else. He was in 
the habit of following the family to church, and after being 
kicked out by the sexton, he would slyly find his way in, and 
going up the broad aisle, scratch at the family pew door. In 
order to stop this habit, orders were given to keep him con- 
fined to the house on Sundays, to which Ponto demurred. 
After suffering confinement two Sundays he circumvented the 
orders and through the first door or window which happen- 
ed to be opened, every Sunday morning at the earliest oppor- 
tunity he left the house and fled to the house of Nathaniel 
Holmes, on School street, who did the family chores, and 
there passed the day, returning home in the evening. He 
knew when Sunday came by symptoms, which he easily dis- 
covered, and while never going to the Holmes house at any 
other time, he kept up his weekly visits for many months, until 
sickness or accident ended his career. 

Ponto reminds me of another dog which belonged to John 
J. Russell, when he lived in the Cotton house, which stood 
where Brewster street enters Court street. Mr. Russell bought 
of Warren Douglas of Half Way Pond one of a litter of 



256 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

hound pups with the agreement to take him when he became 
old enough to be of use. When he thought it about time to 
bring him home he went for him, and it being a rainy day he 
held the pup by a chain between his feet beneath the boot 
which excluded all sight of the road over which he had never 
before travelled. At the end of a fortnight, thinking that 
the pup had been chained to his kennel long enough to become 
domesticated, he unfastened his chain with the intention of 
giving him his breakfast. Preferring, however, freedom to 
breakfast, the pup hopped over the fence, and was last seen 
running up Court square. Mr. Russell, thinking he might 
have found his way to Half Way Pond, drove there the next 
day, and there was the pup. On comparing notes with Mr. 
Douglas, it was found that the little fellow had travelled teo 
miles in less than two hours. So much for the instinct of 
Ponto and the hound pup. If we ask what instinct is, it might 
be correct to say that it is the gift of God unimpaired by edu- 
cation. The homing pigeon has it when she finds her way to 
her distant nest. The Indian has it somewhat qualified by 
civilization when he laughs at the white man who needs a 
watch to show the lapse of time. The Christian has it, be- 
yond the realm of reason, a divine teacher assuring 
him of a life beyond the grave, a belief in which the device 
of human education has done much to impair if not destroy. 
But without further suggestion I submit these mysteries to 
the investigation of my readers and pass on. 

The Old Plymouth Bank building stood until recently where 
the Russell building now stands. It was bought bv the bank 
at the time of its incorporation in 1803, and a brick addition 
was erected at its southerly end for the accommodation of the 
bank. William Goodwin, who had served as cashier from the 
foundation of the bank, died July 17, 1825, and Nathaniel 
Goodwin was chosen to succeed him. He moved at once into 
the bank house, and continued to occupy it until his resigna- 
tion as cashier in 1845, when he moved into the house on the 
comer of Middle and Carver streets, where he died February 
13, 1857. In early life he carried on the manufacture of rope 
in Nantucket, and later in Beverly. He was the son of Gen- 
eral Nathaniel Goodwin, and was born in 1770 in the house 
on Leyden street, owned and occupied by his father, and after- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 257 

wards long kept as a hotel by John Rowland Bradford, and 
known as Bradford's tavern. He married in 1794 Lydia, 
daughter of Nathaniel Gardner of Nantucket, and had seven 
children, only four of whom I remember, Lydia Coffin, 1800, 
who married Thomas Hedge ; Albert Gardner, 1802, who mar- 
ried 1831 Eliza Huzzey of Nantucket, and 1840 Eliza Ann, 
daughter of Joseph Bartlett, and Nathaniel, 1809, who mar- 
ried, 1833, Arabella, daughter of William White of New Bed- 
ford. Mr. Goodwin was the last person in Plymouth to wear 
a cue. Mrs. Goodwin was a quakeress, always wearing the 
garb of her faith, which was further illustrated by her gentle 
spirit and kindly words. 

That part of the house used for a dwelling was occu- 
pied at various times after Mr. Goodwin moved to Middle 
street by Samuel Lanman, George F. Andrews, and Frank 
A. Johnson, the last of whom kept a public house under the 
name of the Winslow House. The old banking room was 
used by Daniel J. Jane and Samuel Merriam, shoe manufac- 
turers; Charles F. Hathaway, for a general store; Joseph P. 
Brown, cabinet maker, and Frank A. Johnson in connection 
with his hotel. It is only necessary to say further in con- 
nection with the old bank building that it was taken down 
and the Russell building erected on its site in 1892. 

Daniel J. Lane manufactured one hundred thousand pairs 
of boots and shoes annually, and gave employment to about 
one hundred and sixty hands. There were other manufac- 
turers of shoes about the same time, of whom it will be well 
to speak : S. Blake & Co., who made one hundred and twenty 
thousand pairs, employing about two hundred hands, having 
their headquarters in Leyden hall building; John Churchill, 
Benjamin Bramhall, William Morey, Henry Mills and Na- 
thaniel Cobb Lanman, in whose shop on Allerton street Wil- 
liam L. Douglas was a workman. 

George Gustavus Dyer came to Plymouth with Mr. Blake 
from Abington, and after serving as bookkeeper for his com- 
pany, was elected cashier of the Old Colony Bank. Mr. Dyer 
was the son of Christopher and Mary (Porter) Dyer of 
Abington, and married in 1852 Mary Ann Bartlett, daughter 
of Schuyler Sampson. After some years' service as cashier of 
the Old Colony Bank, he was chosen President, and died 
January 9, 1891. 



258 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

The shoe business in the days to which I have referred was 
conducted very differently from the methods in vogue today. 
The headquarters not necessarily extensive, were used for the 
reception of stock, the cutting of the leather, the shipment of 
shoes and the business office. When the leather was cut shoe- 
makers would call periodically for packages of uppers, and 
linings and heels, and making the shoes at home would bring 
them to the office and carrv home a new supply. They would 
furnish their own tools and thread and nails and pegs, and 
consequently the need existed of local stores, such as that 
which was kept on Main street by Harrison Finney for shoe 
kit and findings. These shoemakers did their work at home, 
and there was scarcely a house in the smaller towns which 
did not have its small shop on the premises where the cut ma- 
terial was converted into shoes for the more or less distant 
manufacturer. In consequence of the change above men- 
tioned, the local kit stores were abandoned, and there was a 
gradual flow of population from the farming towns where the 
little workshops were located to the large towns, Abington, 
Brockton, Rockland, Plymouth and Whitman, where the fac- 
tories were built. This is one of the causes of the falling off 
of population in the smaller towns, and of the rapid growth 
of the larger ones. There are indications now of a reflex tide, 
as a result of the facilities afforded by trolley cars for work- 
men to seek distant homes where the cost of living is moder- 
ate, and where in dull seasons farming can be carried on with 
profit. 

The building which stood on the corner of Court and North 
streets, which was taken down and replaced by the Rowland 
building in 1888. was occupied as long ago as I can remember 
by Dr. Rossiter Cotton. He was the son of John and Hannah 
(Sturtevant) Cotton, and was born in 1758. He married in 
1783 Priscilla, daughter of Thomas Jackson, and had nine 
children, of whom I only remember two, Charles, born in 1788, 
and Rowland Edwin, born in 1802. 

Dr. Cotton practiced medicine in Plymouth about twenty 
years, and retired from his profession in 1807. He seems to 
have inherited the right to hold county offices. His grand- 
father, Josiah Cotton, was Register of Deeds and County 
Treasurer from 1713 to 1756; his father, John Cotton, held 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 259 

both offices from 1756 to 1789, and he held the same offices, 
from 1789 to his death, August 12, 1837. His son, Rowland 
Edwin, continued in the office of Register from 1837 to 1846. 
Thus the office of Register was held in the family through 
four generations, one hundred and thirty-three years, and the 
office of Treasurer through three generations, one hundred 
and twenty-four years. Dr. Cotton was an antiquarian, and I 
find on the records many of his memoranda and plans, which 
aid materially in elucidating matters which without them it 
would have been difficult to understand. His son, Charles 
Cotton, graduated at Harvard in 1808, and settled as a phy- 
sician in Newport, where he married a Miss Northam, and 
had a family of children, of whom I only remember four, Ros- 
siter, Thomas, Charles and Sophia. He removed to Plymouth 
in 1 83 1, occupying the house under consideration, where he 
I)ractised until his father's death in 1837, when he returned 
to Newport, where he died. The three boys attended the 
high school with me, and must have been all within two years 
of my age. I remember two incidents of our school days, with 
which they are associated. I have referred in a former chap- 
ter to the rule, while Mr. William H. Lord was the teacher, 
for each boy to repeat at the opening of the school in the 
morning a verse from the bible. One day Rossiter received a 
flogging for some ofTense, and the next morning he repeated 
in his turn, "For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth." The 
other incident occurred while Mr. Isaac N. Stoddard was 
teacher. Dr. Cotton thought his son Charles had been either 
unjustly or too severely whipped, so arming himself with a 
whip he went to Mrs. Nicolson's hotel where Air. Stoddard 
boarded, with the intention of flogging him. But he reckoned 
without his host, and when he raised his whip, Mr. Stoddard, 
seizing him by the collar, laid him on the floor, and taking his 
whip away sent him home. 

In 1833 scarlet fever prevailed extensively in Plymouth, 
and was very fatal. In a population of 5,000 the number of 
deaths during the year was one hundred and sixty-seven, of 
which sixty-seven were of children under ten years of age. 
Taking the population of Plymouth in 1904 of 1 1,1 18, and 
the number of deaths in that year, one hundred and fifty-seven, 
as a basis, the normal number of deaths in the population of 



260 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

five thousand in 1833, would have been less than seventy. I 
remember that a daughter of Dr. Charles Cotton, either So- 
phia or another whose name I do not recall, died of the pre- 
vailing disease, and that I was one of the pall bearers at her 
funeral. It was the invariable custom in those days, never 
varied from, to have pall bearers for old and young, and in 
cases of funerals of children, Clement Bates, the sexton, 
would call at the High school and ask for a detail of six boys 
for service at one or more of the funerals on that day. As 
well as I can remember, no precautions were taken to prevent 
the spread of the contagion, and funerals were attended as 
usual, and no quarantine was established. I have no doubt 
that during the visitation of the sickness I served as pall 
bearer at least a dozen times. 

Some years later I narrowly escaped serious inconvenience 
arising from municipal precautions against contagious diseases. 
In February, 1857, I had a schooner in the West India trade, 
and when after her departure from Boston in the early part 
of that month I thought her well on her way towards her des- 
tination, I received a telegram from Thomas Everett Cornish, 
her master, that she had been caught by the ice in the bay soon 
after leaving Boston, and driven by the prevailing northwest 
gales into Truro Bay, where she was in the ice jam a week, 
during which she had received damages which she was now 
repairing in Provincetown. I at once drove to Sandwich, and 
taking the cars for Yarmouth, then the terminus of the Cape 
Cod Railroad, drove to Truro, reaching there about midnight. 
The next morning I hired a conveyance to Provincetown, 
reaching there for dinner. After dinner I boarded the schooner, 
where carpenters were at work getting out new stanchions 
for the damaged bulwarks. While talking in the cabin with 
Capt. Cornish, who was bald, and had taken off his hat, I 
noticed some pustules on his scalp which I saw at once were 
the pustules of varioloid. Fearing that he might become sick 
and would require a substitute for the voyage, I called on 
Dr. Stone, who fortunately was an old friend, and took him 
to see the Captain, whom he at once declared suffering from 
a mild attack of varioloid, which, however, would not prevent 
his prosecution of the voyage. He said that he was the port 
physician, and that it would be his duty to report the case 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 26I 

to the board of health. Fortunately I had said nothing at the 
hotel concerning" my business, or my connection with the 
schooner, and I exacted a promise from Dr. Stone to say noth- 
ing about me. Not long after the departure of the Doctor 
we heard while sitting in the cabin a hail from the head of 
the wharf commanding the captain to haul at once into the 
stream and have no communication with the shore. A watch- 
man was placed at the head of the wharf by the board of 
health, and I began to wonder how I was to escape a quaran- 
tine. I waited until after dark and then giving the captain 
directions to proceed to Boston with the first favorable wind, 
I went ashore, and sneaking up behind a store house with 
only the cap log of the wharf to walk on, I found an opening 
between two buildings about four feet wide, and came out on 
the street unobserved. As I walked to the hotel I found the 
town in a panic, and groups were standing here and there dis- 
cussing the situation. I spoke to no one but on reaching the 
hotel gave orders to be called to take the six o'clock mail 
chaise, and went to bed. At six o'clock I was off and reached 
home the same day. It was eight days before my vessel was 
able to reach Boston, and thus I narrowly escaped a pro- 
longed confinement on board, and the watchfulness of the Pro- 
vincetown board of health. In view of my experience I advise 
my readers in visiting a town, to follow my example, and say 
nothing and keep open the avenues of retreat. 

After the death of Dr. Rossiter Cotton in 1837, and the 
return of his son to Newport, the house in question was kept 
as a hotel named the Mansion House for some years by James 
G. Gleason, succeeded by Benjamin H. Crandon and N. M. 
Perry. In still later years the post office occupied the corner 
room down stairs for a time, and the Custom House a room 
upstairs, until finally the whole upper part of the building and 
the northerly and easterly part below were occupied by news- 
paper offices, and the corner by Charles P. Morse for a drug 
store, until the building was taken down in 1888. Since the 
mention of N. M. Perr}' in a previous chapter, I have learned 
that he was a native of Holliston. 

There are several estates on the west side of Court street, 
whose occupants have not been noticed. Opposite the head 
of North street there was in my youth the Lothrop estate, on 



262 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

which a house stood, which was occupied by Dr. Nathaniel 
Lothrop, until his death, October 10, 1828. Dr. Lothrop was 
the son of Isaac and Priscilla (Thomas) (Watson) Lothrop, 
and was born in the house in question in 1737. His mother 
married in 1758, Noah Hobart of Fairfield, Connecticut, who 
had a daughter Ellen by a previous wife. This daughter, 
Ellen Hobart, married Nathaniel Lothrop, and thus Nathaniel 
Lothrop married his mother's step-daughter, and Ellen Ho- 
bart married her father's step-son. I leave my readers to de- 
termine the relationship between them. In 1831 the Lothrop 
house was taken down, and while its demolition was going 
on, I a boy of nine years of age, saw quantities of papers 
thrown out of the garret windows, and picking up many of 
them carried them home. I found them on examination to be 
official papers with autographs bearing date from 1675 to 1700. 
These I arranged in an album, and have recently presented 
them to the Pilgrim Society. In 1832 the northerly part of 
the lot was sold to Jacob H. Loud, who built the house now 
owned and occupied by Mrs. Francis B. Davis. 

The southerly part of the lot was sold in 1839 to Nathaniel 
Russell, Jr., who built the house now occupied by Col. Wil- 
liam P. Stoddard, and occupied it until his father's death in 
1852, when he moved into the brick house on the comer of 
Court Square, which had been his father's home. At his 
removal the house was left furnished, and was occupied during 
the summer of 1853 by Richard Warren and family of New 
York. From the autumn of 1853 to the autumn of 1854, the 
house was occupied by myself, and there in the summer of 
1854 my oldest child was born. Not long after I left the 
house, it was occupied by Rev. George S. Ball, during his pas- 
torate as colleague of Rev. Dr. Kendall. In 1857 the house 
was sold to Jeremiah Farris, whose son-in-law. Col. Stoddard, 
now occupies it. 

Mr. Russell was as has been before stated, the son of Na- 
thaniel and Martha (LeBaron) Russell, and was born in 
Bridgewater, December 18, 1801. He graduated at Harvard 
in 1820, and married, June 25, 1827, Catherine Elizabeth, 
daughter of Daniel Robert and Betsey Hay ward (Thacher) 
Elliott of Savannah, Georgia, and died February 16, 1875. 
Until 1837 he was associated with his father in the manage- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 263 

ment of the iron industries belonging to the firm of N. Russell 
& Co., composed of Nathaniel Russell, William Davis and 
Barnabas Hedge. After the retirement of the Davis and 
Hedge interests from the firm, Mr, Russell became a member 
of the firm of N. Russell & Co., and so continued until the 
death of his father, October 21, 1852, after which he continued 
the business until the sale of the Summer street works in 1866 
to the Robinson Iron Co. 

During the exciting period of anti-masonry which extended 
from 1828 to 1835, ^ri anti-masonic political party sprang up 
in many of the Northern states, and candidates were gener- 
ally nominated for State and National offices. The party had 
its origin in the belief that William Morgan of Batavia, New 
York, a former mason, who was reported to intend publishing 
the secrets of the order of free masons, had been kidnapped 
and drowned in Lake Ontario. It was believed that the ma- 
sonic oath disqualified those in the higher degrees from serv- 
ing as jurors in cases where members of the same degrees 
were parties. The anti-masonic party originated in New York 
in 1828, and in 1830 Francis Granger, its candidate for Gov- 
ernor, received 128,000 votes. In 1831 a National Anti-ma- 
sonic convention nominated William Wirt of Maryland, and 
Amos Ellmaker of Pennsylvania, for President and Vice- 
President. Vermont was the only state which threw its elec- 
toral vote for the anti-masonic candidates. The anti-masonic 
excitement reached Plymouth, and for one or more years Mr. 
Russell was chosen a member of the legislature on the anti- 
masonic ticket. I am not a mason, but as a somewhat close 
observer of public affairs for nearly seventy years, and many 
times a successful candidate for public office, I feel bound to 
say that I have never suspected any masonic participation 
either collectively or individually in the selection of nominees 
to office, or the election of candidates. 

In 1840 after the death of Barnabas Hedge, Mr. Russell was 
chosen to succeed him as President of the Plymouth Institu- 
tion for Savings, which was incorporated in 1828, and con- 
tinued in office until his death. In 1847, during his incum- 
bency, the name of the institution was changed to the Plym- 
outh Savings Bank, 



264 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

The house in North street occupied by Dr. Brown, stands on 
the site of a house, which in my youth, was owned and occu- 
pied by Stephen Marcy. The old house was during the revo- 
lution kept as an Inn by Thomas Southworth Rowland, and 
there on December 22, 1769, the Old Colony Club for the first 
time celebrated the anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims. 
On that occasion at half-past two a dinner composed of the 
following dishes was served : "A large baked Indian whortle- 
berry pudding, a dish of sauquetach, a dish of clams, a dish of 
oysters, and a dish of cod fish, a haunch of venison, a dish of 
sea fowl, a dish of frost fish and eels, an apple pie, a course of 
cranberry tarts and cheese." 

The pudding alone preceded the meat, and the dessert was 
as now the last course. This custom went out before my day, 
but it was no more strange than that now in vogue, of begin- 
ning a breakfast with fruit and oatmeal. 

I remember the house well with a front door near its west- 
erly end, and an office door near its easterly end opening into 
a room which in its last days was occupied by Dr. Robert 
Capen. In 1833 Jacob Covington bought the estate and built 
the house now standing. 

The Covington family was not one of the old Plymouth 
families. Thomas Covington came to Plymouth a few years 
before the revolution, and married in 1771 Sarah, daughter of 
Joseph Tribble. Jacob Covington, son of Thomas, was no 
doubt a shipmaster in early life. He was evidently trained in 
a business school, and was repeatedly placed in positions of 
trust by his fellow-citizens. He was the first President of the 
Old Colony Insurance Company, and of the Old Colony Bank, 
holding both positions until his death. He was among the 
first to enter the business of the whale fishery, and was among 
its most energetic and competent managers. The enterprise 
of building Long Wharf, and putting the steamboat General 
Lafayette on the line between Plymouth and Boston, was 
chiefly due to him and James Bartlett. He married in 1816, 
Patty, daughter of Gideon Holbrook, and had Elam, 18 17, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 265 

who died in California; Mary Holbrook, 1820, who died in 
East Orange ; Martha Ann, 1822, who died in Plymouth ; Ed- 
win, 1825, who died in Boston; Harriet, 1827, who died in 
Plymouth; Helen, 1830, still living; Jacob, 1832, who died in 
Providence, and Leonard, 1834, who died in Dorchester. 

Mary Holbrook Covington married George H. Bates, a na- 
tive of Farmington, Maine, and the wife of Rev. Dr. Mann, 
the present rector of Trinity church in Boston, is her grand- 
daughter. Capt. Covington died May 28, 1835, at the age of 
forty-four. After the death of Capt. Covington the house in 
question came into the occupancy of Josiah Robbins, who has 
already been noticed, and later of Thomas Prince, who occu- 
pied it as a boarding house. The next occupant was Peter 
Holmes, who was the son of Peter and Sally (Harlow) 
Holmes, and was born in 1804. Mr. Holmes was engaged 
many years in Boston in the cork manufacture, returning to 
Plymouth and becoming the owner of the house under con- 
sideration. He died October 14, 1880, and the house came 
into the possession of Nathaniel Morton in 188 1, who owned 
and occupied it until Dr. W. G. Brown not many years since 
came into its possession. Mr. Morton moved into a new house 
which he built on Union street, and died July 18, 1902, at the 
age of seventy-one years, one month and twenty-one days. 

The lot next below the Covington house was all through 
my boyhood, as late as 1830, an outlying barn yard, belonging 
to Henry Warren, who lived on the corner of North street. 
I remember well the large barn on the rear of the lot, and the 
extensive hog stye and hog yard on its easterly side. In 1830 
the widow of Henry Warren sold the lot to Rev. Frederick 
Freeman, who built the house now occupied by Dr. Helen 
Pierce. Mr. Freeman was descended from early Plymouth 
Colony ancestors, who for many generations lived in Sandwich, 
where Mr, Freeman's grandfather was born. His father, 
George W. Freeman, settled in North Carolina and married 
Ann Yates Ghobson, and was for a time an instructor in Ra- 
leigh, where he became rector of Christ Church, later accept- 
ing the position of Rector of Emanuel Church in Newcastle, 
Delaware. He received in 1839 the degree of Doctor of 
Divinity from the University of North Carolina, and October 
26, 1844, was consecrated Bishop of the southwestern diocese, 



266 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

including Texas, Arkansas and the Indian Territory. He died 
at Little Rock, Arkansas, April 29, 1858. 

Rev. Frederick Freeman, son of George Ward and Ann 
Yates (Ghobson) Freeman, was born in Raleigh, December 
I, 1799, and was there ordained as an evangelist. He was 
settled in 1824 over the Third Qiurch of Plymouth, whose 
place of worship was on the corner of Pleasant and Franklin 
streets, and built the house in question in 1830. In 1830 some 
disaffection arose in his church, which resulted in the secession 
of a considerable number of its members, and the establish- 
ment of the Robinson Congregational church in 1831, and the 
erection of its place of worship on the corner of Pleasant 
•otreet, and a street which has since been laid out and named 
Robinson street. No hint is given so far as I know by any 
historian as to the cause of the dissension in the church, but 
there are reasons to believe that, brought up in the Episcopal 
church, he was never a full fledged Calvinist, and that the 
secession above referred to and his final resignation in 1833 
were due to this fact. The visit of his father to Plymouth in 
1832, and his holding an Episcopal service for only the second 
time in the history of the town, tends to confirm this view of 
the case. My impression is very strong that sooner or later 
after he left Plymouth he became a member in full standing 
of the Episcopal church. He afterwards became a citizen of 
Sandwich, his ancestral town, and devoted some years to the 
preparation and publication of a history of Cape Cod, which 
is a valuable contribution to Old Colony Historical literature. 
I have a distinct recollection of his personality, a strongly 
built man with black hair and a Websterian type of head and 
face, who could not pass in a crowd v^^ithout observation. He 
married December 26, 1821, Elizabeth, daughter of George 
Nichols of Raleigh, who died in Plymouth March 12, 1833. 
He married second, April 20, 1834, Hannah, daughter of 
Frederick W. Wolcott of Litchfield, Conn., and third, Novem- 
ber, 1841, Isabella, daughter of Hart well Williams of Au- 
gusta, Maine, but I do not know the date of his death. A 
sister of his married Weston R. Gales, mayor of Raleigh, and 
hence the name of our late townsman, Weston Gales Freeman 
of Summer street. 

In 1833 Mr. Freeman sold the house to Daniel Jackson, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 267 

who has already been noticed in these memories. After the 
death of Mr. Jackson and the removal of his widow to Boston, 
Dr. Alexander Jackson became the occupant of the house in 
i860, and was succeeded by Dr. Edgar D. Hill in 1880, whose 
occupancy last year gave way to that of Dr. Pierce, the present 
occupant. 

Dr. Alexander Jackson was a descendant in the fifth gener- 
ation from John Jackson, who came from England and died 
in 1 73 1. He was the son of Isaac and Sarah (Thomas) Jack- 
son, and was born in Winthrop, Maine, May 18, 1819. His 
father moved to Boston when he was a boy, and Alexander 
was educated at the Boston Latin School, where he fitted for 
college. He graduated at Amherst in 1840, and took his 
medical degree from the Harvard Medical School in 1843, 
having been associated during his three years' course with the 
Boston Dispensary, and the Boston Eye and Ear Infirmary. 
Not long after receiving his degree he began the practice of 
his profession in Chiltonville, where he remained until Octo- 
ber, 1858, when he moved to Main street, Plymouth, and oc- 
cupied the house where the Plymouth Savings Bank now 
stands. In May, i860, he moved to the house under consid- 
eration on North street, which he occupied until October, 
1880, when he bought the house on Court street, now occupied 
by Father Buckley. In October, 1890, he retired from profes- 
sional business, and moved to Boston. He married, June 14, 
1849, Cordelia A., daughter of Nathaniel Reeves of Way land, 
and had Isaac, 1850, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Ed- 
ward Parrish of Philadelphia ; Alexander, 1853, who married 
Abby Warren, daughter of William T. Davis of Plymouth ; 
and Nathaniel Reeves, 1857, who married Hannah M., widow 
of George W. Brown, and daughter of Lyman Shaw. Dr. 
Jackson died in Boston, December 12, 1901. 

Passing now to the house of Arthur Lord on the lower 
corner of Rope Walk lane, as it was called, its occupant in 
my boyhood was Mrs. William Sturtevant, the widow of Wil- 
liam Sturtevant, who died December 15, 1819. She was the 
daughter of Benjamin and Jane (Sturtevant) Warren, and 
was born in Plymouth in 1769, and died December 5, 1838. 
Her husband was the son of William and Jemima (Shaw) 
Sturtevant, and was born in that part of Plympton, which is 



268 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

now Carver, in 176 1. I have no means of learning what his 
business was, as I am unable to associate him with any enter- 
prise, industry or profession. He was a member of the Board 
of Selectmen in 1817, but I find him in no other office. The 
inscription on his gravestone calls him William Sturtevant, 
Esq., and as it is certain that he was not a shipmaster or a 
lawyer, I am inclined to the opinion that he was a merchant, 
and like George Watson, who died in 1800, and William Jack- 
son, who died in 1837, was called Esquire. Mr. Sturtevant 
was married in 1791, and had the following children, who sur- 
vived infancy: Jane, 1794; Hannah, 1796; Sarah, 1799; Lucy, 
1802; Rebecca W., 1805 ; and William, 1809. Hannah married 
Thomas J. Lobdell, a banker in Boston and died October 3, 
1818; William was for a time a partner with WilHam. S. Rus- 
sell in the dry goods jobbing business in Central street, Bos- 
ton, and later a stock broker; Sarah died July i, 1833; Lucy 
died x\ugust 7, 1807, and Jane died November 8, 1832. Re- 
becca W. married in 1831 Rev. Josiah Moore of Duxbury, and 
died April 7, 1838. Mrs. Moore makes the tenth Plymouth 
lady whom I remember who married husbands who came to 
the town to teach school. These were Nathaniel Bradstreet, 
who married Anna Crombie; Charles Burton, who married 
Sarah Stephens; George Washington Hosmer, who married 
Hannah Poor Kendall ; William H. Lord, who married Persis 
Kendall; William Parsons Lunt, who married Ellen Hobart 
Hedge ; Josiah Moore, who married Rebecca W. Sturtevant ; 
Horace H. Rolfe, who married Mary T. Marcy ; Benjamin 
Shurtlefif, who married Sally Shaw, Isaac Nelson Stoddard, 
who married Martha Thomas, and William Whiting, who 
married Lydia Gushing Russell. Another might have 
been added to the list if a letter of which I was the innocent 
bearer, had received a favorable reply. I had no right to 
know the contents of the letter, but little pitchers have great 
ears, and mine were uncommonly great when I overheard the 
letter discussed. The marriage of another teacher, Charles 
Field to Elizabeth Hayward, was prevented by his death, Au- 
gust 22, 1838. 

In 1839 the house in question was sold to Dr. Timothy Gor- 
don, who occupied it until his death. Dr. Gordon came to 
Plymouth in 1837, but where he lived until he moved into the 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 269 

Sturtevant house, I am not able to say. His ancestor, Alex- 
ander Gordon, a Scotchman, came to New England in 1651, 
and settled in New Hampshire. The Doctor was the son of 
Timothy and Lydia Whitmore Gordon, and was born in New- 
bury, N. H., March 10, 1795, and made several voyages as su- 
percargo. 

In 1823 he entered the office of his brother William in 
Hingham, and completed his studies at the Bowdoin College 
medical school, where he received a degree in 1825, and first 
settled in Weymouth. In 1837 he came to Plymouth, and in 
1839 moved into the house in question. He was bold and suc- 
cessful as a practitioner, and skilful as a surgeon. For many 
years he was one of the chief supporters of the Third Church, 
and a liberal contributor to its funds, and both he and his wife 
made large gifts for the support of foreign missions. He was 
a trustee of the Pilgrim Society, and Vice President from 1872 
to 1877; a Director of the Plymouth Bank and Plymouth 
National Bank from 1845 to 1877, and the recipient of the 
degree of Master of Arts from Amherst College in 
1868. He married May 12, 1825, Jane Binney, daugh- 
ter of Solomon and Sarah Jones, and had two child- 
ren, Solomon Jones, September 21, 1826, and Timothy, 
April 19, 1836, the latter of whom died young. Dr. Gordon 
was a shrewd man, and would have made a good detective, as 
the following incident shows. He believed that the methods 
pursued in New York and Boston in detecting criminals by the 
aid of newspaper reporters was like hunting ducks with a 
brass band, and acted accordingly. He had a famous peach 
tree in his garden laden with luscious fruit, of which one night 
he was robbed. Neither he nor his wife mentioned the loss 
even to their servant, and no one knew of the robbery besides 
themselves and the thief. One day as the Doctor was sweep- 
ing his sidewalk a man came along and entered into conversa- 
tion. Just as he turned to leave he said, "by the way. Doctor, 
did you ever find out who stole your peaches." "Yes, you ras- 
cal," the Doctor replied. "You stole them, and if you don't 
pay me five dollars instantly I will have you put in jail." The 
man confessed at once, and paid the money down. 

Solomon Jones Gordon, the son of Dr. Gordon, was bom 
in Weymouth, September 24, 1826, and graduated at Harvard 



270 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

in 1847. He studied law with Jacob H. Loud in Plymouth, 
and in the Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the Suf- 
folk bar October 18, 1850. He soon after became associated 
with Orlando B. Potter, who was interested in sewing machine 
patents, and removed his office to New York, where he accum- 
ulated a handsome fortune. He mairied Rebecca, daughter 
of David Ames of Springfield, in which city he made his home 
until his death in 1890. 

After Dr. Gordon, the house under consideration was suc- 
cessively occupied by Rev. A. H. Sweetser, pastor of the Uni- 
versalist Society, and by Dr. Parker, and the last occupant be- 
fore Mr. Lord, its present occupant, was Dr. Warren Pierce. 

Perhaps I ought to ofifer an excuse, for the continuance of 
these personal reminiscences which may have become weari- 
some to some of my readers. There is a legend that myriads 
of sombre birds have periodically flown from the Black Sea to 
the beautiful sea of Marmora, and after hovering over the cy- 
press shades of the cemetery at Scutari have retraced their 
flight without food or drink, never touching the earth. The 
Turks are said to believe that they are condemned souls denied 
the peaceful quiet of the grave, visiting the tombs of others. I 
trust that my wanderings among the scenes of the past will not 
be attributed to the restlessness of a condemned soul, but rath- 
er to a love of my native town, and of those in whose footsteps 
I am daily walking, and in whose vacant homes I recall blessed 
memories. 

The house on North street, now owned by John Russell, the 
occupants of which have been only incidentally alluded to, was 
built by Samuel Jackson soon after the revolution and passed 
from him to John Russell, who married his daughter Mary. 
From John Russell it passed to his son, John, who owned and 
occupied it through my boyhood until his death in 1857, from 
whom after his widow's death it passed to his son, John Jack- 
son Russell, the father of the present owner. John Russell, 
v.-hom I remember as the occupant of the house, was the son of 
John and Mary (Jackson) Russell, and was born in 1786. In 
early life he followed the sea, and soon became master. He 
sailed some years in the employ of my grandfather, Wm. Dav- 
is, and I have seen many letters from him in various ports in 
the North of Europe, which show him to have been a skilful 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 2jl 

navigator, and an intelligent, shrewd business man. He gave 
up the sea before my day, and jointly with Thomas Davis of 
Plymouth, and Wm. Perkins and Sydney Bartlett of Boston, 
owned the ships Massasoit, Sydney, Granada and Hampden, of 
which he was manager. As far as I know his masters were 
Robert Cowen, Nathaniel Spooner, Wm. Sylvester, and Henry 
Whiting, the latter making a single voyage to California in the 
Hampden in 1849. Not long after giving up the sea he became 
interested in town affairs, and could always be relied on to op- 
pose extravagant measures. He was a member of the Board 
of Selectmen from 1841 to 1844 inclusive, and in the years 
1846, 1 85 1, 1853 and 1854. He was also one of the corpora- 
tors of the Plymouth Cordage Company in 1824, and a direc- 
tor I think until his death. It was during his service as ship- 
master that the political lines began to be drawn between the 
advocates and opponents of a protective tariff, the manufactur- 
ers asking for protection, and the ship owners opposing any 
measures tending to check importations. His attitude on this 
question carried him into the ranks of the Democratic party a 
constant opponent of a tariff which, drawn chiefly for protec- 
tion purposes, he believed to be unconstitutional. In 1844 the 
ship Hampden was in New Orleans loading cotton for Amster- 
dam, and either for the benefit of his health or the relief of Capt. 
Cowen, he concluded to take command of her for the voyage. 
Sending for his son John, who was teaching school in Barn- 
stable to be his companion, they joined the ship and made the 
voyage to Amsterdam and back to Boston or New York, I 
think with a load of iron. 

Captain Russell married in 1816 Deborah, daughter of Na- 
thaniel and Mary (Holmes) Spooner, and had Mary Spooner, 
who married James T. Hodge, John Jackson. Helen, who mar- 
ried Wm. Davis and Wm. H. Whitman, and Laura. He died 
February 6, 1857. 

John Jackson Russell, son of the above, who became the 
next occupant of the house in question, was born July 27, 1823, 
and graduated at Harvard in 1843. After teaching school in 
Barnstable and making a voyage to Amsterdam with his father 
in the ship Hampden in 1844, he studied law with Jacob H. 
Loud in Plymouth, and Allen Crocker Spooner in Boston, and 
was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1848. Returning to Plym- 



272 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

outh in 1850, after practising law for a time, he was appointed 
Assistant Treasurer of the Plymouth Savings Bank, and after 
the death of Allen Danforth in 1872 treasurer, which position 
he held until his death. He was also a director of the Plym- 
outh National Bank, and in 1878, a short time its President. 
He married in 1855 Mary A., daughter of Allen Danforth, and 
had Helen, 1857, John, i860, and Lydia, 1863. He died No- 
vember 10, 1897. The house in question in my judgment il- 
lustrates those admirable qualities in architecture, symmetry 
and proportion, which are rarely found in the works of ar- 
chitects of the present day. It illustrates also the importance 
of retaining the original color of a house intended by the ar- 
chitect to be built of brick in order to preserve its symmetry, for 
it must be apparent that since the house was painted red the 
symmetry has been restored, which a light color had previously 
disturbed. 

Until within five or six years a house stood on the easterly 
side of the Russell house, which during my boyhood was oc- 
cupied by Daniel Jackson until 1834, and by Isaac Tribble until 
1846, both of whom have already been noticed. In 1846 it 
was bought by Anthony Morse, who occupied it until his death. 
Mr. Morse was born in Gloucester in 1795, and was the son of 
Humphrey and Lydia (Parsons) Morse of that city. He came 
to Plymouth when a young man, and learned the trade of rope 
making, working a number of years in the rope walk extend- 
ing from the gardens of the North street houses along the rear 
of the Court street lots to Howland street, and afterwards in 
the works of the Robbins Cordage Company. At a later time 
he was an assistant in the store of Samuel Robbins on Market 
street, and still later he kept a grocery store a short time on his 
own account. He was an ardent whig, and during political 
campaigns he rendered valuable service to his party by setting 
up a reading room, collecting campaign funds, and making 
sure of the appearance of whig voters at the polls. Colonel 
John B. Thomas was the general adviser of the party, and no 
measures were adopted without his approval. One election 
morning Col. Thomas was awaked before daylight by a loud 
rapping at his door. Opening the window and asking what 
was the matter, Morse appeared out of the darkness and called 
out, "C-Co-Colonel, rains like h-hell, shall I engage all the h- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 273 

horses ? The Colonel said Yes, and went back to bed. As a 
reward for his party services he was appointed Deputy Collec- 
tor in 1 841. Mr. Morse married in 1837 Nancy, widow of 
Branch Johnson, and daughter of William Atwood, and had 
Charles P., 1830, who kept an apothecary's shop some years 
at the corner of Court and North streets, and later in the house 
of his father, to which he succeeded. 

Mr. Morse was a man of the strictest integrity, and conscien- 
tiousness was the most marked feature in his character. He 
possessed a morbid conscience which kept him in constant fear 
that he might be suspected of dishonesty. He was a director 
of the Plymouth Bank from 1844 to 1858, and he told me once 
that on one occasion when the cashier left him during a tem- 
porary absence to keep the Bank he found a twenty dollar bill 
behind a chair on the floor. I found it impossible to convince 
him that it had not been placed there to test his honesty. The 
morbid state of his mind intensified with age, and he commit- 
ted suicide April 19, 1858. 

Passing now to the house standing in the angle of Winslow 
street, I am led to speak of its occupants for the purpose of 
making appropriate mention of Dr. Charles T. Jackson, a dis- 
tinguished son of Plymouth, who was there born June 21, 1805. 
His father, Charles Jackson, married Lucy, daughter of John 
Cotton, in 1794, and his children, whom I remember, were 
Lucy, born, 1798, who married Charles Brown, Lydia, 1802, 
who married Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Charles Thomas. 
Mr. Brown, the husband of Lucy, lived many years in Con- 
stantinople, and rendered laborious and self-sacrificing service 
to the sick during a visitation of the plague in that city. Dr. 
Jackson studied medicine with Dr. James Jackson and Dr. Wal- 
ter Channing of Boston, and graduated at the Harvard Medical 
school in 1829. In the same year he went to Europe, where 
he remained three years studying in Paris, and returned in 
1832. For his scientific labors and researches he was made a 
fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

In 1836 he was appointed geologist of Maine, and was also 
appointed by Massachusetts to survey her Maine lands. In 
1839 he was appointed geologist of Rhode Island, and in 1840 
of New Hampshire. In 1844 and 1845, he explored the 
southern shores of Lake Superior, and opened mines of copper. 



274 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

In 1847 he superintended for a time a survey of mineral lands 
of the United States in Michigan. When Professor S. F. B. 
Morse secured a patent for the telegraph in 1840, Dr. Jackson 
claimed that on board the ship Sully in 1832, in which he and 
Morse were passengers, he suggested the possibility of corre- 
spondence by means of electricity, and explained to Mr. Morse 
the method of applying electricity to telegraphic use. It is in 
my power to furnish to a certain extent a confirmation of Dr. 
Jackson's claim, which, as far as I know, has not found its 
way into the literature of the telegraph. In 1846 I was a pas- 
senger from New York to Liverpool in the ship Liverpool, in 
which a man by the name of Blithen was mate, who was also 
mate of the ship Sully, in which Jackson and Morse were pas- 
sengers in 1832. He told me that he remembered well when 
Dr. Jackson made the suggestion of the possibility of an elec- 
tric telegraph, at the dinner table, and the interest with which 
Mr. Morse listened, and his questionings concerning a possible 
use of electricity in the manner proposed. Mr. Blithen said 
that it was evident that the subject was a new one to Mr. 
Morse, bearing on matters entirely outside of the profession of 
painter to which he belonged. The controversy upon the 
respective claims of Morse and Jackson never reached a defi- 
nite settlement, except sub-silentia by public opinion in favor 
of Morse. 

Dr. Jackson made another claim, resting on a more sub- 
stantial basis, on which both scientific and general opinion have 
been and probably always will be divided. The question 
whether he or Dr. W. T. G. Morton was the real discoverer of 
anasthesia, will never be settled, and perhaps the only solution 
it. will reach is that which gives both jointly the credit of the 
great discovery. A memorial was presented to Congress in 
1852, signed by one hundred and forty-three physicians of Bos- 
ton and vicinity, ascribing the discovery exclusively to Dr. 
Jackson, The French Academy of Science decreed a Mont- 
yon prize of 2,500 francs to Jackson for the discovery of ether- 
ization, and one of the same amount to Morton for the applica- 
tion of the discovery to surgical operations. Dr. Jackson re- 
ceived orders and decorations from the governments of France, 
Sweden, Prussia, Turkey and Sardinia, but what the final ver- 
dict of history, the court of last resort, will be, it is too early 
to sav. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 275 

Dr. Jackson was a man of broad and deep scientific learning", 
and in exploring the mysteries lying in the field of science he 
found so much that his frank and open nature would not per- 
mit him to conceal, that those who knew him were not sur- 
prised at the disputed claims which marked his career. He 
knew too much, and too many things for him to develop, and 
by his own labors to apply to practical use. His mind was 
like a garden so crowded with vegetation of his own planting 
that none or few reached perfect bloom and seed. But the 
passerby attracted by one or another, though ignorant of bot- 
any, would pluck a slip or a root, and setting it in his own 
grounds, by unremitting care nurse it into vigorous growth and 
a perfected life. Without the garden which the gardener had 
planted, the passerby would never have found the plant, and 
without the act of the passerby the plant would have died and 
the labors of the gardener would have been in vain. Thus 
it is true that one soweth another reapeth. Dr. Jackson mar- 
ried Susan Bridge of Charlestown, and died in 1880. 

At the time the controversy between Jackson and Morton 
was going on, Horace Wells, a dentist in Hartford, made a 
claim that prior to the use of ether he had used in his pro- 
fession nitrous oxide gas to prevent pain. In the autumn of 
1846 he went to Europe to lay his discovery before the medical 
profession in Paris, and in March, 1847, on his return, he was 
my fellow passenger on board the steamship Hibernia, and 
shared my stateroom. He was a landsman, unfamiliar with 
the sea, and easily frightened by the noises of the ship. He 
v/as especially frightened on a dark night in a northwest gale 
surrounded by broken ice ofif the Flemish cap, the northeast 
edge of the grand banks. As we entered the field ice Capt. 
Harrison deemed it prudent to stand to the southward and es- 
cape it. We were constantly feeling the huge blocks of ice, 
thumping against us, and with the windows of the dining sa- 
loon which was on the main deck, well shuttered, it was about 
as dismal a prospect as passengers not yet fully satisfied of the 
seaworthiness of sidewheel ocean steamships had ever exper- 
ienced. In those days the trumpet was used by the officers 
on the deck in giving orders at night or in a storm to the 
men at the wheel, and about ten o'clock the few of us who 
were not sick, sitting in the saloon, heard the order, "hard a 



276 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

port." Of course we ran to the door, but before reaching it 
heard the order, "hard a starboard." I saw on the port side 
perhaps a quarter of a mile distant the ghsten of an iceberg, 
and those on the starboard side saw the gHsten of another about 
the same distance away, and as we went wallowing along in 
the trough of the sea we sailed between them. We turned 
in soon after, but there was not much sleep for the poor Doc- 
tor after the fright he had received. 

About midnight we were awakened by the crash on our 
decks of a gigantic wave, which enveloped the ship, filling the 
dining saloon sill deep, and pouring down into the cabin, en- 
dangering the lives of several passengers whose stateroom 
doors were broken open, and who were washed out of their 
berths. The Doctor was out and off in an instant, returning 
in about ten minutes telling me to get up as the ship was sink- 
ing. As I never v;as easily rattled, I remained in my berth, 
either taking no stock in his outcry, or thinking that a speedy 
death in my stateroom would be better than a lingering one 
among floating cakes of ice. In the morning we were clear of 
the ice, and once more on our course. The troubles to which 
Dr. Wells was subjected in endeavoring to substantiate his 
claim, afifected his brain, and he committed suicide in New 
York, January 24, 1848. A statue has been erected to his 
memory in the park at Hartford, his native city. 

Another distinguished Plymouthean was a resident on North 
street. Dr. James Thacher lived from 181 7 to 1827 in what 
is now called the old part of the Samoset House, which he 
named Lagrange in honor of Lafayette, and moved from there 
into the Winslow house on North street, which he occupied un- 
til he built the house until recently occupied by Dr. Thomas 
B. Drew in or about 1832. I remember him in the Winslow 
house, but it was chiefly in the house built by him which he 
occupied until his death that I knew him intimately. His 
family and my mother were close friends, and I made frequent 
visits to his house to talk with him and learn from him tales 
and incidents of the past. I always found him sitting at his 
desk in the northwest corner of the westerly parlor ready to 
talk with a young man who was sufficiently interested in early 
days to visit an old man. He was as long ago as I knew 
him very deaf, and sometimes, though not always, I talked 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 277 

with him through an ear trumpet. Like all deaf persons, his 
hearing depended much on the tone in which he was addressed, 
not necessarily a loud one, but distinct, clear cut, and from 
the throat rather than the lips. His wife, whose voice was 
low and soft, but clear, conversed with him with ease. He 
was a short man, stoutly built, though not fleshy, and always 
as long as I knew him, walked with a cane. He was a jovial 
man, ready to laugh at a good story, or at a joke on a friend or. 
on himself. He was an ardent friend of temperance, full of 
religious sentiment, but owing to his deafness he was while I 
knew him, a rare attendant on church worship. Before my 
day he had abandoned the practice of his profession, and was 
devoted to literary pursuits. 

Dr. Thacher was born in Barnstable, February 14, 1754, and 
was the son of John and Content (Norton) Thacher of that 
town. He attended the public schools until he was eighteen 
years of age, when he was apprenticed to Dr. Abner Hersey 
for the study of medicine, completing his apprenticeship at the 
age of twenty-one soon after the battle of Bunker Hill. He 
at once presented himself for examination for medical service 
in the army, and being accepted was appointed surgeon's mate 
in the hospital at Cambridge, under Dr. John Warren. In 
February, 1776, after another examination, he was assigned to 
Col. Asa Whitcomb's regiment as mate to Dr. David Town- 
send, and went with his regiment on the expedition to Ticon- 
deroga. In November, 1778, he was appointed surgeon of the 
First Virginia State Regiment, and in 1779 he exchanged into 
ihe First Massachusetts Regiment commanded by Col. Henry 
Jackson, and was present at the execution of Andre. In July, 
1 78 1, he was appointed surgeon in the Regiment, commanded 
by Col. Alexander Scammel, and was present at the siege of 
Yorktown, and the surrender of Cornwallis. Retiring from 
service in January, 1783, he settled in the following March in 
Plymouth, where he resided until his death. His large exper- 
ience in the army, and his well known skill as a surgeon, gave 
him a large and lucrative practice, from which he would 
have acquired a handsome property, had not his investments 
and ventures been disastrous. He established with his broth- 
er-in-law. Dr. Nathan Hay ward in 1796, the first stage line be- 
tween Plymouth and Boston, which with other enterprises, no 



278 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

more successful, wasted the savings from his practice. While 
carrying on his practice he had in his office a number of 
students, among whom were Dr. Perry of Keene, N. H., Dr. 
Nathaniel Bradstreet of Newburyport, and Dr. Benjamin 
ShurtlefiF of Carver and Boston. In many things he was 
always a little in advance of his generation, and was inclined to 
adopt new ideas before they were sufficiently tried, though in 
others he was the successful pioneer. He introduced the 
tomato into Plymouth, and with my mother, was the first to set 
up a coal grate, and use anthracite coal for domestic purpose. 

In 1810 Dr. Thacher published "The American Dispensa- 
tory," and in 1812 "Observations on Hydrophobia." In 1817 
be published "The Modern Practice of Physic," in 1822 the 
"American Orchardist," and in 1823 "A Military Journal dur- 
ing the Revolutionary War," in 1828 "American Medical Bio- 
graphy," in 1829, "A Practical Treatise on the Management of 
Bees," in 1831, "An Essay on Demonology, Ghosts, Appari- 
tions and Popular Superstitions," and in 1832 a "History of the 
Town of Plymouth." Of some of these books second editions 
have been published ; some are standard works, and all are rare. 
The suggestion I have made that he was in advance of his 
time is confirmed by his work on hydrophobia, in which more 
than a hint is given that methods of prevention or cure might 
be successfully adopted, such as Pasteur has in recent years 
advocated. In that work the following passage may be found : 

"Experiments made upon the canine poison in brutes might 
be considered as an arduous and hazardous undertaking, but it 
is not to be deemed altogether impracticable, and I will suggest 
the following project for the purpose. In the first place dogs 
when afifected with madness, instead of being killed, should be 
confined and secured that the disease may run its course, and 
for the ascertainment of many useful facts connected with its 
several stages. If experiments on dogs should be deemed too 
hazardous let other animals of little value be selected, provided 
a sufficient number can be procured. Having provided for 
their security in some proper enclosure, let them be inoculated 
with the saliva of the mad dog. With some the inoculated 
part might be cut out at different stages to ascertain the latest 
period at which it may be done successfully. To others, va- 
rious counter poisons and specific remedies might be applied to 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 279 

the wound and administered internally. In fact it would be dif- 
ficult to determine a priori, the extent of the advantages of this 
novel plan if judiciously conducted. You may smile at my 
project, but however chimerical and visionary it may appear, 
I would rejoice to be the Jenner of the proposed institution; 
though I might fail in realizing my thousands I could pride 
myself in being the candidate for the honor, and the author of 
an attempt to mitigate the horrors attending one of the great- 
est of all human calamities." 

Dr. Thacher received from Harvard the honorary degrees of 
Master of Arts and Doctor of Medicine in 1810, and from 
Dartmouth in the same year, and was made a Fellow of the 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He married Su- 
sanna, daughter of Nathan Hayward of Bridgewater, and sis- 
ter of Dr. Nathan Hayward of Plymouth, and had Betsey 
Hayward, 1785, who married Daniel Robert Elliott of Savan- 
nah, Georgia, and Michael Hodge of Newburyport ; Susan, 
1788, who died in infancy; James, 1790, who also died in in- 
fancy; James Hersey, 1792, who died in 1793; Susan, 1794, 
who married Wm. Bartlett, and Catherine, 1797, who died in 
1800. Dr. Thacher died May 26, 1844, and his wife died 
May 17, 1842. 



28o PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

James Thacher Hodge, another distinguished son of Plym- 
outh, was associated with North street, where he had his home 
for some years with his mother and his grandfather. Dr. 
James Thacher. His father, Michael Hodge of Newburyport, 
a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1799, married in 1814 
Betsey Hayward, widow of Daniel Robert Elliott of Savannah, 
Georgia, and daughter of James and Susannah (Hayward) 
Thacher of Plymouth, and James Thacher Hodge, his only 
son, was born in Plymouth in 1816. Mr. Hodge graduated at 
Harvard in 1836, and at once applied himself to the study of 
chemistry, mineralogy and geology, a field of science in which 
he was destined to become distinguished. Among his early 
labors were those performed with Dr. Chas. T. Jackson, also 
a native of Plymouth, on the geological survey of Maine, and 
with Professor Henry D. Rogers on the geological survey of 
Pennsylvania. He was afterwards engaged in testing and 
utilizing the mineral wealth of Lake Superior lands, and the 
explorations and reports made by him largely aided in develop- 
ing the mining interests of the northwest. 

In later times, as one after another, new state and territory 
extended our limits in the west, he was among the first to 
discover beneath their surface the rich tribute they were ready 
to pay as they entered the gates of the union. I believe that 
science will find no step treading its paths more vigorous than 
his, and no keener eye exploring its mysteries. After a 
season's work on the southern shore of Lake Superior he left 
Marquette in the steamer Colburn on the 12th of October, 
1871, and on her passage to Detroit the steamer foundered in a 
gale and he with others was lost. He inherited from his 
grandfather the firmness of nerve which had distinguished, 
him in his surgical practice, and from his father, a fearless- 
ness amounting at times to rashness. Mr. Hodge m prepar- 
ing his reports was a careful writer, preferring a criticism for 
undue caution to a final discovery of extravagant statements 
leading unwary investors to failure and misfortune. Within 
the field of his literarv eft'orts must be included some hundreds 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 281 

of articles on scientific subjects contribvited to the American 
Cyclopaedia. 

Mr. Hodgfe married in 1846 ]\Iary Spooner, daughter of 
John Russell of Plymouth, and had Elizabeth Thacher, who 
married Georg-e Gibbs of Riverside, Kentucky ; John Russell, 
1847, ^vho married Harriet, daughter of Seth Evans of Cin- 
cinnati ; James Michael, 1850, and Mary, 1854. 

I cannot leave North street without a word in memory of 
the house in which I was born, March 3, 1822, now occupied 
as an Inn, known as the Plymouth Rock House. After my 
father's death in 1824, my mother continued to occupy the 
house until 1845, when she moved to the house now occupied 
by the Misses Russell, near the head of the street. The suc- 
ceeding occupants in their order were Rev. Henry Edes, who 
kept a young ladies' boarding school ; Mrs. Sarah Jenkins, 
Simon R. Burgess and Charles H. Snell. As long as it was 
occupied by our family it had a stable at the westerly end of 
the garden on Carver street, and a chaise house opening on 
Cole's Hill, which long since gave way to an enlargement of 
the dwelling house. 

There have been so many alterations and enlargements in 
the house since my mother left it in 1845, that there is little 
left as it was in my boyhood. The middle kitchen, as it was 
called, with its dresser containing articles in pewter, such as 
hot water plates, candle moulds, syphons, etc., and its sink 
with a pewter ewer and bowl where I washed my hands when 
coming from play, and the long buttery leading out of it where 
the flour and sugar barrels and common china and the last 
batch of pies were kept, is now an indistinguishable feature 
of the house. The large kitchen, too, with its box seat, the 
meal chest with compartments for Indian meal, white meal 
and rye meal, the coffee grinder on the wall, the mantel with 
its row of two wicked brass lamps always clean and bright, 
the fireplace with its high andirons, and a four foot stick for a 
forestick, a crane with pothooks and a tin kitchen before the 
fire, has gone with the rest. Only one room remains as it 
was of old, the northeast corner parlor, a room that is histor- 
ic, for there the first grate in Plymouth was set in 1832 for 
burning anthracite coal for domestic use. 

Dr. Thacher and mv mother each had a grate set at the 



282 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



same time, but as his house was not yet finished the fire was 
kindled in ours first with coal bought by Capt. George Sim- 
mons in Boston, and brought to Plymouth in the packet sloop 
Splendid. Outside of the house the old garden is gone with 
its lilac tree announcing by its bloom the advancing step of 
summer. 

How well I remember that old lilac tree, 

Which stood in the garden near our back entry door; 
No lily nor rose seemed ever to me 

As sweet as the blossoms that lilac tree bore. 
How gladly it welcomed the warm airs of spring, 

As out of the west they swept down the vale; 
How responsive it seemed, how eager to fling 

Its banners of purple to the ravishing gale. 
Like the honey bee sipping the sweets of a flower, 

How oft and how richly my sense was regaled. 
While sitting beneath my ivy clad bower 

I drank in the perfume its blossoms exhaled. 
The garden is gone, and the old lilac tree 

Stands no longer by the back entry door; 
But its fragrance remains, reminder to me 

Of a home once beloved — but now no more. 

What changes time has wrought in the scenes of my youth. 
One feature of these scenes is left to remind me of my Cole's 
Hill home, which years have failed to erase. In my earliest 
youth nearly four score years ago a bed of bouncing betts 
bloomed on the grassy bank opposite our home, and it is 
blooming still as if contesting with me a race for the longest 
life. I visit it every year to make sure that it has not given 
up the contest, and when I stand by it it seems to say, "Ah, 
old fellow, I will beat you yet." I hope you will, dear friend 
of my youth, and bloom on for generations to come, reminding 
others as you do me of my childhood days. 

I have spoken of N. Russell & Co., and Jeremiah Farris and 
Bourne Spooner as connected with manufacturing interests 
in Plymouth. There are two others among those who have 
passed away, whom I ought to notice, Oliver Edes and Na- 
thaniel Wood. Mr. Edes was the son of Oliver and Lucy 
(Lewis) Edes, and was born in East Needham, November lo, 
1815. At the age of sixteen he began to learn the trade of nail 
makine at works on the Boston mill dam owned bv Horace 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 283 

Gray. He afterwards ran a tack machine in the works of 
Apollos Randall & Co., in South Braintree, and at the age of 
twenty-two invented a machine for cutting rivets from drawn 
wire. Before that time rivets had been made by hand, and it 
was difficult to make the trade believe that any but handmade 
rivets would meet the wants of mechanics. In 1840 he entered 
into a partnership with Andrew Holmes under the firm name 
of Holmes, Edes & Co., with a factory at North Marshfield. 
At the end of three years the firm was dissolved and a new 
one formed between Mr. Edes and Jeremiah Farris, under 
the firm name of Edes & Co. At the expiration of a year, 
in 1844, the firm moved their business to Plymouth. In 1850 
Mr. Edes, having disposed of his interest, formed with Na- 
thaniel Wood the firm of Edes & Wood, and began the manu- 
facture of zinc shoe nails and tacks, and soon after the roll- 
ing of zinc plates at Chiltonville. In 1859 he bought out Mr. 
Wood, and in 1880, with his son Edwin L. Edes, the partner- 
ship of Oliver Edes and son was formed. In 1883, a partner- 
ship was formed consisting of Oliver Edes, Jason W. Mixter, 
Edwin L. Edes and T. E. Heald of Knoxville for the develop- 
ment of zinc mines in Virginia and Tennessee, and for the 
manufacture of zinc metal. He married October 7, 1836, 
Susan, daughter of Ebenezer and Lydia (Curtis) Davie, and 
had William Wallace, 1847, who married Ellen M., daughter 
of Calvin H. Eaton, Lydia Curtis 185 1, who married Jasotj 
W. Mixter, and Edwin L., 1853., who married Mary E., 
daughter of Edgar C. Raymond. Mr. Edes died February 21, 
1884. 

Nathaniel Wood of Dedham married Rhoda Colburn, and 
came to Plymouth in the early part of the last century, and had 
six children, after 1810, among whom was Nathaniel, who was 
bom November 25, 1814. The son, Nathaniel, learned the 
nail cutter's trade at the works on the Mill dam in Boston, 
owned by Horace Gray, father of the late Horace Gray, asso- 
ciate justice of the United States Supreme Court. He worked 
for some years in the nail factory of N. Russell & Co., and 
for a time on his own account in cutting zinc nails and tacks, 
and in 1850 formed a partnership with Oliver Edes, under 
the firm name of Edes & Wood, in a factory which stood on 
Forge pond brook in Chiltonville, where the business was car- 



284 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

ried on of making zinc shoe nails and tacks and rolling zinc 
plates. In 1859 he sold out his interest to Mr. Edes, and with 
Charles O. Churchill, under the firm name of N. Wood & Co., 
continued the business in a factory farther down the stream 
on the road leading from the Sandwich road to the old Mano- 
rnet road at what was called the Double Brook dam. At a 
later time he ran a small factory on Little Brook. He mar- 
ried in 1837 Angeline, daughter of Lewis and Betsey (Wes- 
ton) Finney, and had Warren Colburn, 1840, and Florence A.,^ 
1847. He married second, 1854, Betsey R., daughter of 
Charles and Abigail (Russell) Churchill, and had Nathaniel 
Russell, 1856, and died April 26, 1888. 

Allen Crocker Spooner, whom I knew intimately, was a 
brilliant man, who was cut off by death at the threshold of an 
especially promising career. He was the son of Capt. Nathan- 
iel and Lucy (Willard) Spooner, and was born March 9, 
1814, in the house on the southerly side of High street, next 
west of the house on the corner of Spring street. He grad- 
uated at Harvard in 1835, and was admitted to the Suffolk 
bar, September 3, 1839. He belonged to a coterie of scholarly 
and jovial men, who met at the eating house of General Bates 
once a week, and over their bitter ale were legitimate succes- 
sors of the Fleet street club of Johnson and Garrick and Gold- 
smith. The members of this coterie were Fay Barrett of Con- 
cord, James Russell Lowell of Cambridge, George W. Minns, 
Nathan Hale, Allen Crocker Spooner and John C. King of 
Boston and Benjamin Drew of Plymouth. All of these were 
Harvard men except King, who was a sculptor, and Benjamin 
Drew, a journalist, connected with the Boston Post. Their 
jokes on each other, though sometimes rough, were always 
taken in good part. One evening Minns and Spooner wer^ 
walking into town from Cambridge and feeling a little dry in 
the throat, Spooner said : "Minns, have you got any money 
about your clothes, for I spent my last cent in paying toll?" 
"I've got just twelve and a half cents," said Minns, a sum 
which was the silver nine pence of that period. Peter B. 
Brigham kept a drinking saloon in the old concert hall build- 
ing on the corner of Hanover and Court streets, and his drinks 
were of two prices, those like Deacon Grant and Dr. Pierpont, 
named after distinguished temperance men, were nine pence, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 285 

and all other common drinks were six and a quarter cents or 
four pence half penny. They marched into Brigham's as if 
they were rolling in riches, and as they came to the counter, 
Minns said, "Spooner what are you going to have." Spooner 
answered, "I think 1 will have a Deacon Grant, what are you 
going to have?" "Well, I don't feel very dry, I guess I won't 
take anything." Mr. Spooner was sought as a guest on many 
public occasions, where he was sure to entertain his audience by 
either a graceful speech, a bit of humor, or an appropriate 
poem. I remember that on one occasion he was invited to join 
the Boston underwriters in their annual excursion down Bos- 
ton harbor. A little while before, Capt. Jas. Murdock, com- 
manding the packet ship Ocean Monarch, had run his ship 
ashore at Cohasset or Scituate in a fog, though fortunate 
enough to get her off. At the lunch of the party on board the 
excursion steamer, Mr. Spooner assumed the position of toast- 
master, and calling up the guests one after another, answered 
the toasts himself, adopting the personality of each. Among 
others he toasted Capt. Murdock, who was present, and kept 
the company in a roar by claiming a discovery in the science 
of navigation by which he had found that the use of the lead 
was an obsolete practice, only persisted in by those who had 
not yet learned that ships were constructed to navigate the 
ocean and not the land. Capt. Murdock, I believe, was a cabin 
window Captain, a fine looking man, jolly good fellow, 
popular with his passengers, but not a sailor in the truest sense 
of the word. Afterwards in coming down the English channel, 
his ship was destroyed by fire off Holy head, and a passen- 
ger whom I knew by the name of South worth, told me that 
Murdock was the first of the ship's company to reach Liver- 
pool with news of the disaster. 

About the year 1845 ^^^- Spooner went to England, a pas- 
senger in the packet ship Devonshire, Capt Luce, the same 
Captain Luce who commanded the Collin's steamship Arctic, 
which was run into by the Brig Vesta, near Cape Race, Sept. 
24, 1854, and sunk with the loss of three hundred and fifty 
lives. Capt. Luce, whom I afterwards met, told me that when 
the ship went down he stood on the paddle box holding his 
little boy by the hand and that he thought he would never 
stop going down. He had no sooner reached the surface, still 



286 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



holding his little boy by the hand, than a spar loosened from 
the wreck, came up with great force, and striking his son, 
killed him instantly. He succeded in reaching a fragment 
of the wreck, and was picked up by one of the brig's boats. 

On his return home, Mr. Spooner told the Boston Old Col- 
ony Club, of which I was a member, that in running into the 
harbor of old Plymouth as he lay on deck basking in the sun, 
he saw a vessel coming out, which he pictured in his mind as 
the Mayflower starting on her voyage to the new world. His 
surprise was great when, as the vessel passed, he read on her 
stem the name of the Pilgrim ship the Mayflower. My 

wonder at the time whether his eyesight was not blurred by an 
exuberant imagination was modified at a later time by an in- 
cident within my own experience. On the 19th oi August, 
1895, in crossing the English channel from Queenboro to 
Flushing in Holland, I saw coming from a northern port a 
small steamer crossing our course diagonally, almost exactly 
the course which the Speedwell steered in August, 1620, in 
running from Delfthaven to Southampton, where she joined 
the Mayflower. As she passed our stern I was a little startled 
as I read the name Speedwell on her bow. I was talking 
at the time with two passengers, and calling their attention to 
the name of the vessel, I told them the Pilgrim story. Lest 
I might be suspected like my friend Spooner of an exuberant 
imagination, I examined the British marine register, after my 
return home, and found one of the three Speedwells whose 
size agreed with the vessel I saw. She belonged in Ipswich, 
and I wrote to the owner asking him to advise me of the 
whereabouts of his steamer on the 19th of August, 1895. 
Unable to find in Boston a Victoria stamp, I was obliged to 
send my letter without a return stamp enclosed, and I attribute 
to that circumstance my failure to receive a reply. The inci- 
dent was especially interesting, as I had just visited Scrooby 
for the purpose of placing a bronze tablet on the site of 
Scrooby Manor, in which the Pilgrim church was formed, and 
was on my way to Leyden, the Pilgrims' home in Holland. 

I shall at this point in my narrative devote some space to 
notices of such Plymoutheans as have distinguished them- 
selves in other localities without regard to the houses with 
which by birth or otherwise they may have been associated. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 28/ 

To these will be added notices of a few who were residents 
of Plymouth, but who have been in preceding chapters only 
incidentally alluded to. 

William G. Russell was the son of Thomas and Mary Ann 
(Goodwin) Russell, and was born in Plymouth, November 
i8, 1821. After attending the public schools he was fitted for 
college by Hon. John A. Shaw of Bridgewater, and graduated 
at Harvard in 1840. After teaching in a private school in 
Plymouth a short time, and in the Dracut Academy a year, 
he studied law in the office of his brother-in-law, Wm. Whit- 
ing, and at the Harvard Law School, receiving from the lat- 
ter the degree of LL. B. in 1845, ^"d being admitted to the 
Suffolk bar July 25, 1848. He was at once associated with 
Mr. Whitfng as a partner, and while the latter was holding 
the position of solicitor of the War Department from 1862 to 
1865, the business of the firm devolved on him. After the 
death of Mr. Whiting in 1873, George Putnam joined him 
as a partner, and at a later period, Jabez Fox was added to the 
firm. After the death of Sydney Bartlett he was universally 
recognized as the leader of the Suffolk bar, and was offered a 
seat on the bench of the Supreme Judicial Court, both as as- 
sociate and chief justice. He was a member of the IMassa- 
chusetts Historical Society, and at various times held the 
positions of President of the Union Club, the social library 
association, and the Suffolk bar association ; vice president of 
the Pilgrim Society, director of the Mount Vernon National 
Bank, and the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Co., 
and Harvard overseer from 1869 to 1881, and from 1882 to 
1894. He married October 6, 1847, Mary Ellen, daughter of 
Thomas and Lydia Coffin Hedge of Plymouth, and died in 
Boston, February 6, 1896. 

Thomas Russell, brother of the above, was born in Plym- 
outh, September 26, 1825, and graduated at Harvard in 1845. 
He studied law with Whiting & Russell in Boston, and was 
admitted to the Suffolk bar November 12, 1849. He was 
appointed Justice of the Police Court of Boston, February 26, 
1852, and in 1859 on the establishment of the Superior Caurt 
was appointed one of its associate justices. While he was on 
the bench a number of cases of garrotting and robbery occur- 
red on Boston Commons, which for a time made the Common 



288 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

dangerous to cross in the evening. The first person charged 
with the offence was tried before Judge Russell, and convicted, 
and the severe sentence imposed by him put an end to the 
commission of the crime. In 1867 he resigned his seat on the 
Superior bench, and on the accession of General Grant to the 
Presidency, was apointed collector of the port of Boston. 
During General Grant's second term he resigned the collector- 
ship, and was appointed minister to the Republic of Venezuela, 
where he remained several years. He was a Harvard overseer"* 
from 1855 to 1867; a Trustee of the State Nautical School 
several years, and in 1879 was chosen President of the Pilgrirn 
Society, holding that position until his death. The judge was 
an ardent republican, and being a ready speaker, was always 
in demand on the political stump. He was occasionally select- 
ed for the delivery of formal orations, the most notable of 
which ocurring to me were a fourth of July oration before the 
Boston City Government, and a eulogv' on General Grant de- 
livered in Plymouth. He married in 1853 Mary Ellen, daugh- 
ter of Rev. Edward T. Taylor of Boston, and died in Boston, 
February 9, 1887. 

Henry Warren Torrey, born in Plymouth, was the son of 
John and Marcia Otis (Warren) Torrey. He graduated at 
Harvard in 1833, and studied law in the office of his uncle, 
Charles Henry Warren in New Bedford. He was at the same 
time co-operating with Frederick Percival Leverett in prepar- 
ing what is known as Leverett's latin lexicon, published in 
1837. While engaged in that work his eyes became 
seriously affected, and practice in the profession of law was 
abandoned. I remember that at the time of the great whig 
celebration in Boston on the loth of September, 1840, he was 
living in New Bedford, and on that occasion the New Bedford 
delegation carried a banner with an inscription of which he 
was the author. On the banner a whale ship was painted with 
a whale alongside in the process of stripping, and the fires 
under the try pots smoking on deck, and beneath was the in- 
scription : "Martin VanBuren — we have tried him in, and now 
we will try him out." 

In 1844 Mr. Torrey was appointed tutor at Har- 
vard and .instructor in elocution, and served until 1848. 
My impression is that from 1848 to 1856 he lived in Hamilton 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 289 

Place, Boston, and with his sister, EHzabeth, taught a young, 
ladies' school. In 1856 he was appointed McLean Professor 
of Ancient and ^Modern History at Harvard, serving until 
1886, when on his resignation he was appointed Professor 
Emeritus, serving until his death. In 1879 he received the 
degree of LL. D. from Harvard, and from 1888 until his 
death, he was a Harvard overseer. He was also a member of 
the Massachusetts Historical Society, and a fellow of the 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He died in Cam- 
bridge in 1893. 

Lemuel Stephens, son of Lemuel and Sally (Morton) 
Stephens, was born in Plymouth, February 22, 1814. He be- 
longed to a sturdy race, and I well remember his grandfather, 
William, who was born in 1752. His father, Lemuel and his 
uncle William, occupied the two Stephens' houses between 
Union street and the shore, but I am inclined to think, while 
Lemuel built the house he occupied, that the house William 
occupied was built by his father. Lemuel and William, the 
father and uncle of the subject of this notice were engaged 
many years in the grand bank fishery, and Stephens' wharf, 
which since the abandonment of the fishery has gradually 
crumbled away, presented once a busy scene when the Jane 
and Constitution and the Duck and the Industry were fitting 
out in the spring, and washing out in the autumn. The 
Stephens brothers were men of brains, and consequently men 
of ideas, men who were called pessimists because they looked 
out for weak spots in government and society, and sought to 
correct them. The optimists on the other hand flattered them- 
selves that everything was right when everything was wrong, 
and that the ship was tight, though leaking a thousand strokes 
an hour. They were the earliest abolitionists in the town, the 
earliest advocates of temperance reform, the earliest promoters 
of a well maintained education of the people, while the opti- 
mists as long as they were making money said, "All is well, let 
things be." 

Lemuel Stephens of whom I specially speak, the son of 
Lemuel, graduated at Harvard in 1835, and soon after gradua- 
tion went to Pittsburg in Pennsylvania, where for a time he 
taught in a private school. After leaving Pittsburg he went 
to Germany for study, spending three years in Heidelberg and 



290 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Gottingen. On his return he was appointed Professor of 
chemistry in the western University of Pennsylvania, where 
he remained until 1850, when he was appointed professor of 
chemistry and physics in Gerard College, continuing in 
service until 1885. He married Ann Maria Buckminster of 
Framingham, Mass., a relative of Rev. Dr. Joseph Stevens 
Buckminster, once pastor of Brattle street church in Boston, 
and died in Philadelphia, March 25, 1892. 

Another Plymouth man, of whom I must speak, was Wins- 
low Marston Watson, of whom few of my readers ever heard. 
The son of Winslow Watson he was born I think on Clark's 
Island in 1812, and graduated at Harvard in 1833. His 
mother, Mrs. Harriet Lothrop Watson, was a close observer 
of persons and families, their traits of character and their 
relations to each other, and was the first genealogist whom I 
ever saw. Her son, Winslow, inherited her powers of obser- 
vation, and her remarkable memory, which in a broader sphere 
of life made him a reconteur of wide reputation. He early 
entered the profession of journalism, and in 1842 I found him, 
while on a visit to Troy, the editor of the Troy Whig. He 
later removed to Washington, where for some years he ren- 
dered valuable service as correspondent of leading newspapers 
in New England and New York. His artistic taste and lit- 
erary ability attracted the attention of Mr. Corcoran, the 
wealthy banker and patron of art, and in his service he per- 
formed appreciative work. I doubt whether any man ever 
lived in Washington who came in contact with more persons 
of distinction, and could portray their characters and habits 
more thoroughly, than Mr. Watson. For nearly forty years 
I never failed to see him when visiting Washington, and if 
he had followed my advice to publish a book of reminiscences 
he would have made a valuable contribution to the literature 
of Washington life. His personality was striking, of med- 
ium height and weight, with a fair complexion and large pro- 
tuberant blue eyes, with that sad, patient, placid, yet protest- 
ing expression which Homer recognized who called the celes- 
tial queen the ox-eyed Juno. He married in 1852 Louisa 
Gibbons, and died in Washington in 1889. He was a cousin 
of the late Benjamin Marston Watson, of whom I have al- 
ready spoken, and to whom it occurs to me to refer asrain 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 29I 

by inserting the following lines, which I inscribed in a book 
presented to him on his last birthday, and which better than 
my earlier reference to him, illustrate the beauty of his char- 
acter and life : 

A placid stream, with flowers on either hand, 
And meads beyond, tempting the eye of art ; 
With here and there a ripple as it runs 
Against opposing winds, or flows triumphant 
Over hidden shoals, with lips upturned 
And smiling in the noonday sun. 
Such, my dear friend, has been thy life. 
'Twere vain to wish it ever thus to be. 
For every stream must some time reach the sea. 

There lived in my youth on the lower corner of Sumrner 
and Spring streets an elderly gentleman of kind words and 
gentle speech, who, though living a distance from my home, 
early attracted me and found a lasting place in my memory. 
From 1806 to 1819, he had been treasurer of the town, and 
was some years a teacher in what was later called the high 
school. His name was Benjamin Drew, and he was the father 
of my long time friend, Benjamin Drew, who died in 1903. 
He was something of a poet, and his son told the story that 
one time when asked to contribute an inscription to be placed 
on the gravestone of his brother-in-law, Barnabas Holmes, he 
composed the following : 

By temperance taught, a few advancing slow, 
To distant fate by easy journeys go; 
Calmly they lie them down like evening sheep, — 
On their own woolly fleeces softly sleep. 

Objection was made to the inscription by the family of Mr. 
Holmes, it appearing too personal, as Mr. Holmes had been a 
dealer in mutton. Like most emasculated poetry the substi- 
tute adopted was tame — as follows : 

By temperance governed, and by reason taught. 
The paths of peace and pleasantness he sought; 
With competence and length of days was blest, 
And cheered with hopes of everlasting rest. 

He married in 1797 Sophia, daughter of Sylvanus and Mar- 
tha (Wait) Bartlett. His son, Benjamin, of whom I espec- 
ially speak in this notice, was born in Plymouth, November 28, 
18 1 2. He was educated at the public schools, leaving the high 



292 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

school about four years before I entered it. After leaving 
school he entered the office of the Old Colony Memorial to 
learn the printer's trade, and there laid the foundation of his 
reputation as an expert in typography. About the year 1835 
he began his career as teacher, and during a period of twenty- 
five years taught in the Phillips, Otis, Mayhew and Glover 
schools in Boston. While living in Boston his companionship 
was prized by scholarly men, and he was one of a group of 
social fellows already referred to who met at a saloon in Corn- 
hill square, called the Shades, kept by General Bates, a Scotch- 
man. There the group would frequently meet in Bohemian 
fashion to exchange witticisms and criticisms and enjoy a mug 
of ale. These occasional opportunities to give vent to his 
sense of humor were not sufficient to exhaust his flow of wit 
and under the cognomen of Ensign Stebbins he often wrote 
for the "carpet bag," and was always a welcome contributor to 
the humorous columns of the Boston Post. I remember read- 
ing a squib of his in the Post sixty years ago, representing a 
showman explaining and describing to his audience the various 
features of his exhibition, as for instance : 

"This, ladies and gentlemen, is the zebra, it measures ten feet 
from head to tail, and eleven feet from tail to head, has 
twelve stripes along its back and nary one alike." 

"This is the hippopotamus, an amphibious animal, what dies 
in the water and can't live on the land." 

"This, ladies and gentlemen, is the shoved over of the 
scalper's art, the statute of Apollos spoken of in the acts of 
the Apostles, where it says that Paul doth plant and Apollos 
v^^ater, and to illustrate the text more fully I have appended to 
his left hand a large, tin watering pot, which I bought of a 
tin peddler for thirty-seven and a half cents." 

About i860 Mr. Drew went to St. Paul, where he taught 
school a year, and then for some years he performed the duties 
of proof reader in the Government printing office in Wash- 
ington. In 1881 he made a journey around the world, spend- 
ing a short time on the way with his son Edward Bangs Drew, 
a Mandarin in the Chinese Imperial Customs Service, with 
headquarters at Tientsin, where he passed his 70th birthday. 
On his return he settled permanently in his native town, re- 
calling the scenes and friends of earlier days, and roaming 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 293 

among the haunts of the fathers of the town. He published 
during his Hfe a book entitled "Pens and Types," a standard 
work on typography, and another entitled, "The North side of 
slavery," and after his final return to Plymouth he published 
a valuable descriptive catalogue of the gravestones and inscrip- 
tions on Plymouth Burial Hill. He married Caroline Bangs 
of Brewster, and died in Plymouth July 19, 1903, at the age 
of ninety years, seven months and twenty-one days. 

Zabdiel Sampson, son of George and Hannah (Cooper) 
Sampson, was born in Plympton in 1781, and graduated at 
Brown University in 1803. He studied law with Joshua 
Thomas, and settled in Plymouth. In 1816 he was chosen 
member of Congress, and in 1820 was appointed collector of 
the port of Plymouth to succeed Henry Warren. At that time 
political lines were in a comparatively subdued and inactive 
state. The loose constructionist or federal party was still in 
existence, but declining in strength and power. Monroe, a 
strict constructionist or Democratic Republican, was re-elected 
with practical unanimity, while the campaign of 1824 was 
rather a personal contest between John Ouincy Adams and An- 
drew Jackson, than a party struggle. During the administration 
of Adams the name National Republican took the place of Fed- 
eralist, and the Democratic Republican party assumed the 
name of Democrat. Thus parties remained until the campaign 
of 1832. when the National Republicans assumed the name 
of Whigs. Thus the two great parties continued until 1856, 
when the Republican party was bom. There were splinters 
from these parties at various times, such as the anti -masonic 
party in 1830. the liberty party in 1839, the free soil party in 
1848 and the American party in 1852, as there are now splinters 
from the Democratic and Republican parties like the tem- 
perance and labor parties. 

Mr. Sampson was undoubtedly when appointed collector in 
1820 a Monroe strict constructionist, or in other words a 
Democrat, but retained the office through the Adams admin- 
istration because during that period party lines were loosely 
drawn. He died while in office, July 19. 1828. He was a 
member of the board of selectmen eight years, during five of 
which he was its chairman. He married in 1804, Ruth, daugh- 
ter of Ebenezer Lobdell of Plympton, and had ten children, 



294 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

neither of whom I think has descendants Hving in Plymouth. 

I have said that the presidential contest in 1824 was a per- 
sonal one between Adams and Jackson. Then began the hos- 
tility between these two men, which was never placated. Gen- 
eral Jackson died June 8, 1845, before the days of the tele- 
graph, and rumors of his death drifted to the East several 
times before the event occurred. Rev. Dr. Wm. P. Lunt, Mr. 
Adams' pastor in Quincy, told me that while in Boston one 
day, authentic news of Jackson's death was received, and on 
his return home he though it proper for him to call at Mr. 
Adams' house and communicate to him the sad news. As he 
entered the library Mr. Adams was standing with his back to 
the door, looking over some papers on a window seat. He said, 
"Mr. Adams, I heard in Boston this afternoon the sad news 
of the death of General Jackson, your successor in the presi- 
dential chair." Mr. Adams, without looking round or stopping 
in his work exclaimed, "Umph, the old rascal is dead at last, 
is he?" 

Schuyler Sampson, brother of the above mentioned Zabdiel, 
was born in Plympton in March, 1787, but moved with his 
father to Plymouth when young. I am inclined to think that 
he and his brother lived for some years in the house which 
until recently stood on the corner of Summer street and Spring 
hill. All through my boyhood, however, and until his death, 
he owned and occupied the house on the northerly side of Sum- 
mer street, next westerly of the house for many years occupied 
by Benjamin Hathaway. He was for several years a member 
of the board of selectmen, and in 1828 was appointed to suc- 
ceed his brother as collector of the port. He served in the lat- 
ter ofifice during the administrations of Jackson and Van Buren, 
and in 1841 succeeded Ebenezer G. Parker as cashier of the 
Old Colony Bank. He married in 1823 Mary Ann, daughter 
of Amasa Bartlett, and had Mary Ann Bartlett, 1825, who 
married George Gustavus Dyer. He married second, 1827, 
Sarah Taylor (Bartlett) Bishop, sister of his first wife, and 
widow of Wm. Bishop. By his second wife he had Sarah Tay- 
lor Bartlett, 1829, George Schuyler, 1833 and Hannah Bart- 
lett, 1835, who married Rev. Isaac C. White. The late Wm. 
Bishop of Boston was the son of the second wife bv her first 
husband. Mr. Sampson died in Plymouth May 10, 1855. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 295 

During my boyhood Truman Bartlett lived on the notherly 
side of High street, west of Spring street. He was a tall, 
robust man, weighing I should judge about two hundred and 
twenty-five pounds, and I remember him well with his plaid 
Camlet cloak which he wore in the winter, reminding me of 
the outer cold weather garment worn by the watchmen in Bos- 
ton before the police patrol was established in that city. He 
was the son of Sanmel and Elizabeth (Jackson) Bartlett, and 
was born in Plymouth, March 10, 1776. He was a ship- 
master for many years, and sailed for my grandfather, Wm. 
Davis and Barnabas Hedge. He married in 1798 Experience, 
daughter of Robert Finney, and had William, Josiah, Flavel, 
Charles, Stephen, Truman, Azariah, Ann, Lucia and Angeline. 
Of these Angeline died at the age of twenty, April 24, 1838, 
and Charles died in childhood in 1826; Lucia died October 3, 
1841, at the age of twenty-eight, and of Ann I know nothing. 
The remaining six sons all became shipmasters, and formed 
a group of merchant captains, such as no other Plymouth 
famil}- can match. Of William, who commanded the Charles 
Bartlett, and Truman, who commanded the Queen of the 
Bast, I have already spoken, but of the others I have no re- 
liable record. Captain Bartlett died August 18, 1841. 

Ezra Finney, called Captain, lived on the northwesterly cor- 
ner of Summer and Spring streets from 1822, until his death. 
He was the son of Ezra and Hannah (Luce) Finney, and was 
born in Plymouth July 5, 1772. He may have been a ship- 
master in his early days, and his connection with the Old 
Colony Insurance Company, of which he was at one time Pres- 
ident, as well as his ownership and management of naviga- 
tion, renders such an occupation probable. He was a member 
of the board of selectmen three years, and the absence of his 
name in connection with the whale fishery suggests a conser- 
vatism in business affairs which precluded investments over 
which he could have no personal supervision. In navigation 
he was enterprising and successful, but as far as I know never 
engaged in the grand bank fishery. He married in 1797 Lydia, 
daughter of Andrew Bartlett, and had Lydia Bartlett, 1799, 
who married Capt. Lemuel Clark, Ezra, 1804, who married 
John Bartlett. He married second 1808, Betsey, widow of 
John Bishop, and daughter of Eliphalet Holbrook, Eliza, and 



296 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

had Betsey Bishop, 1809, who married WilHam Sampson Bart- 
lett; Mary Coville, 181 1; Caroline, 1814; Ezra, 1817; Mary 
Coville, 1819, who married Henry Mills ; and Caroline, 1822. 
Abby, daughter of Captain Finney's second wife by her first 
husband, John Bishop, was born in 1801, and married James 
E. Leonard and Henry Mills. 

It was the custom under what was called the Suffolk Bank 
system, when banks were forbidden by law to pay out any 
bills but their own to send every two or three days all for- 
eign bills received by the banks to the Suffolk 
bank in Boston and receive from that bank their own bills in 
return. As expresses were not established in Plymouth until 
after 1845 packages of bills to or from the Suffolk bank were 
entrusted to any friend of the Plymouth or Old Colony Bank, 
as they were to myself even when a boy. On one 
occasion Mr. Finney received from the Suffolk bank a pack- 
age of the bills of the Old Colony Bank. Chilled by his ride 
from Boston in a stage sleigh, it was not until he had thawed 
out by the home fire that the package was brought to his mind. 
It was not in his pockets, nor was it to be found anywhere in 
the house. As a last resort he hurried to the stage stable, 
where his anxiety was relieved by the discovery of the package 
hidden by the straw with which the floor of the sleigh was 
covered. This incident was far from being indicative of 
carelessness on his part, for he was a methodical business man, 
and one as thoughtful of the interests of others as of his own. 
On another occasion he proved himself a thrifty trustee of the 
Savings Bank. Mr. Danforth, the treasurer, having occasion 
to leave town for a day or perhaps two, left Mr. Finney in 
charge of the bank, and among the contents of the safe was 
a strapped package of counterfeit bills which had been col- 
lecting for some time, and had been charged off to profit 
and loss. On Mr. Danforth's return, not finding the pack- 
age, he asked Mr. Finney if he had seen the bills, and Mr. 
Finney replied that he had, and not doubting them genuine, 
had paid them out. The bills were never heard from after- 
wards, and their amount was in due time credited back to 
profit and loss. Captain Finney died February 5, 1861. 

Andrew Bartlett, son of Andrew and Sarah Holbrook Bart- 
lett, was born in Plymouth, October 20, 1806, and lived in 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 29/ 

High Street, near his kinsman, Truman Bartlett. He was a 
shipmaster, possessing those quaUties which made him not 
only a skilful navigator, but a prudent, economical and trust- 
worthy business man. He told me once that during his career 
as master, he had never lost a man or a spar. While this fact 
speaks well for his seamanship, it was due largely to the 
models of vessels in his day, and the absence of those hasty 
methods of doing business which characterize our times. A 
blunt bow and a full counter made it easy to encounter a head 
sea, and to leave a following one, while there was enougji left 
of the old kettle bottom to check the shift of even a cargo of 
railroad iron, which, however securely braced, is always ready 
to start with the kick of a rolling sea. Safety to ship and 
cargo, not speed, was the great consideration sought. When 
Capt. Fox in the brig Emerald, after a thirteen days' pas- 
sage from Liverpool, rounded to off Long wharf and was 
hailed with the question, "When did you leave Liverpool, 
Capt. Fox," his reply was, "Last week, damn you, when do 
you think?" He did not say how many sails he had lost, nor 
whether his cargo in the forehold was dry. I think Capt. 
Bartlett sailed for a combination of owners of whom Ezra 
Finney, Wm. Nelson and Benjamin Barnes were the chief. 

After abandoning the sea his interests in seamen led him 
to devote his life to their service in connection with the sailors' 
Bethel and Home in Boston. He married in 1830 Mary, 
daughter of William Barnes of Plymouth, and had Victor A., 
1841, Mary E. 1843 ^^^ Andrew P., 1848. He married sec- 
ond, in 1866, Phebe J. Tenney, who had been for a number 
of years a school teacher in Plymouth. Captain Bartlett 
died February 4, 1882. 

William Nelson, son of William and Bathsheba (Lothrop) 
Nelson, was born in Plymouth, September 29, 1796, on the 
old Nelson farm near Cold Spring, which had been in the 
Nelson family from the time of its first American ancestor, 
William Nelson, who married Martha, daughter of widow 
Ford, who came to Plymouth in the ship Fortune in 162 1. I 
think Mr. Nelson lived on High street until 1841, when he 
built and occupied until his death the house on Summer street, 
which in 1867 w^as sold to Barnabas Churchill. He had a 
sister, Mary Lothrop Nelson, who married Jesse Harlow, and 



298 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

he with Mr. Harlow, under the firm name of Nelson & Harlow, 
was engaged some years in navigation, with a counting room 
on the westerly side of Water street, opposite to Nelson's 
wharf. He was a director in the Old Colony Bank, and in 
the Old Colony Insurance Company, a prominent member of 
the Orthodox Congregational church, and a liberal contri- 
butor to its support. He married in 1821 Sarah, daughter of 
Josiah Carver, and had William Henry, 1830, who is noticed 
at the end of this chapter; Thomas Lothrop, 1833, who mar- 
ried Susan A. Warren of Exeter, N. H., and Mary Stratton 
of Atchison, Miss. ; and Sarah Elizabeth, who married Wm. 
K. Churchill. Mr. Nelson died October 6, 1863. 

There is one whom I omitted in my wanderings in the 
northerly part of Court street, of whom I shall be glad to 
speak. I heard much of him in my youth, though he died be- 
fore my birth, and of the disappointment which his premature 
death caused to be felt by his friends. Isaac Eames Cobb, the 
son of Cornelius and Grace (Eames) Cobb, was born Jan- 
uary 19, 1789, in the old Nehemiah Savery house, still stand- 
ing south of Cherry street, a little back from Court street. He 
graduated at Harvard in 18 14 a leading scholar in his class, 
and began the study of law. A disease of the lungs obliged 
him to abandon a profession in which there was every reason 
to believe that he would have a successful career. He entered 
into business with Messrs. Isaac L. and Thomas Hedge, but 
died a victim of consumption January 14, 1821. He married 
in 1816 Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Bartlett, whose house 
occupied the site on which that of Gideon F. Holmes now 
stands. His daughter Elizabeth, the widow of Joseph Holmes, 
lives m a house standing on what was a part of her grand- 
father Bartlett's estate. The following inscription is on his 
gravestone on Burial Hill : 

Possessed he talents, ten or five or one, 
The work he had to do — that work was done ; 
Informed his mind, in wisdom's ways he trod. 
Reluctant died, but died resigned to God. 

No man was better known in Plymouth in his day than 
Joseph Lucas. He was a son of Joseph and Ruby Lucas of 
Plympton, and was born in that town in February, 1785. He 
learned the nail cvitter's trade, and worked at it many years 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 299 

in the works of N. Russell & Co. His work was something 
more than perfunctory, for it not only led him into a study of 
machinery with its needed improvements, but it gave him also 
an opportunity to ponder over worldly affairs beyond the 
horizon of his daily occupation. His ingenuity suggested use- 
ful improvements in nail cutting machines, which proved 
profitable to both his employers and himself. Mr, Lucas was 
an ardent whig, and as a manufacturer was a supporter of the 
tariff policy of his party, little thinking that within thirty-five 
years of his death the tariff' policy which he advocated would 
by the imposition of high duties on coal and iron wipe out of 
existence the nail cutting business of New England. 

Mr. Lucas was often sought to represent the town in the 
General Court, and in the house of representatives his name 
was as much identified with Plymouth as that of Kellogg with 
Pittsfield ; Banning with Lee ; Lawrence with Belchertown, or 
Lee with Templeton. In his day it was not the custom as it 
is now, to nominate one of two or three who set themselves 
up as candidates, but the voters selected the men they wanted 
for representatives, believing that laws to be respected must be 
enacted by men of good judgment and superior intelligence. 
Mr. Lucas married in 1823 Lydia, daughter of William and 
Lydia (Holmes) Keen, and had Augustus Henry, 1824; Ca- 
therine Amelia, 1825, and Frederick William, 1831. Mr. Lucas 
died January 13, 1871. 

Before crossinp- Town Brook I must speak of Joseph P. 
Brown and Wm. H. Nelson, though they are not associated 
with the remote history of our town. Mr. Brown was the son 
of Lemuel Brown, and was born December 12, 1812. His 
father was a cabinet maker who came to Plymouth with a wife, 
Sarah Palmer of Cambridge, and established himself in busi- 
ness with a shop in the rear of the house next west of the 
present residence of the Misses Rich on Summer street. He 
did good work, and I know many mahogany chairs of his 
workmanship still doing good service in the parlors of some 
of my friends. His two sons, Stephen P. and Joseph P., learn- 
ed the trade of their father, and in later years carried on 
business on the south side of High street, and in the building, 
a part of which is occupied by the provision market of C. B. 
Harlow on Market street. At a still later time Joseph P. 



300 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

carried on the same business in the old Plymouth bank build- 
ing on Court street. Joseph was on the board of selectmen 
with me from 1856 to i860, inclusive, and I am glad of the 
opportunity to attest his usefulness and fidelity in the man- 
agement of town affairs. He was a man of dry humor, and 
had many a story to tell, often provoking a laugh against him- 
self. He chewed tobacco freely, and was obliged before speak- 
ing to deliver himself of the saliva which had been accumulat- 
ing. I remember that one autumn afternoon when the board 
had been visiting the south end of the town, we stopped at 
the house of David Clark, a member of the board, to leave 
him, and went into the house to warm ourselves. As we 
sat around the wood fire I noticed a couple of herrings roast- 
ing in the ashes for supper. Before Mr. Brown could answer 
a question I put to him he was obliged to relieve his mouth 
of its contents, and he discharged them squarely upon the 
herrings, completely covering them. Nothing was said, and 
I did not suppose that any one but myself noticed the catas- 
trophe. After we had started for home, Mr. Brown turning 
to me said, "Good heavens, Davis, did you see me baste those 
herrings ?" 

He told me once of an expedition to Sandwich to bring 
home his wife's invalid sister, who had been visiting there. 
He started one November morning about four o'clock, and 
after driving two hours he came to a cross road, and seeing 
a light in a house, stopped to inquire the way. On rapping at 
the door a man appeared with a lamp in his hand, whom he 
recognized as John Harlow, an old resident of Chiltonville. 
"What are you doing, John, down here in Sandwich," he 
asked, and John replied, " I guess, mister, your morning toddy 
was a little strong, I am in Chiltonville, not Sandwich." Then 
for the first time recognizing his visitor, he added, "Why, Mr. 
Brown, what are you doing here at this time in the morning?" 
"Why, John, I started for Sandwich, but at the rate of prog- 
ress I have made I don't think I shall get there much before 
night." The trouble was that his horse, following the track 
which suited him best, had after leaving the Cornish tavern, 
borne constantly to the left and traversed the Beaver Dam 
road, and the road over the Pine Hills until he reached the 
Harlow house, four miles from his starting point two hours 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 30I 

before. Mr. Brown married in 1837 Margaret, daughter of 
George Washburn, and died June 23, 1877. 

William H. Nelson was the son of William and Sarah (Car- 
ver) Nelson, and v/as born August 13, 1830. After leaving 
school he was a clerk for a time in the hardware establishment 
of Cotton, Hill & Co., in Boston, but eventually established 
himself in business m his native town. As well as I can re- 
member he first embarked in the grand bank fishery, supple- 
mented by the mackerel fishery. Gradually enlarging his fleet, 
and also the size of his vessels, he extended his business opera- 
tions by either chartering some of his vessels to Boston mer- 
chants engaged in the West India trade, or engaging himsell 
in that trade. Building from time to time still larger vessels 
which were employed entirely under charter, his fishing inter- 
ests became a secondary matter. By prudence and sagacity, 
his business was made successful and profitable, and as he 
won the confidence of his fellow citizens, he was sought for in 
the management of institutions and public affairs. He was a 
director of the Old Colony National Bank many years, and 
after the death of George Gustavus Dyer for a short time, 
until his own death, its President. His chief service, and 
one which made him respected, and his trustworthiness relied 
upon by his fellow citizens, was that rendered by him on the 
board of selectmen, of which he was a member for twenty 
years, and chairman sixteen years. As manager of town affairs 
he was conservative and faithful to his trust, never hasty in the 
support of new schemes, but sure in the end to support them 
when satisfied of their merit. He married Hannah Coomer, 
daughter of Coomer Weston, Jr., and died July 18, 1891. 



302 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXX. 

I have thus far in my wanderings omitted to mention any 
member of the Harlow family, scarcely one of whom can be 
found on the north side of Town Brook. But in crossing the 
brook I am at once confronted by three Harlow houses, stand- 
ing like sentinels to guard what may be considered their 
family domain. These are the houses which in an earlier gen- 
eration were occupied by Ephraim, Sylvanus and George Har- 
low. In my study of family names I have often found them 
confining themselves within certain town bounds. For in- 
stance there are the names of Stetson, Gray and Willis in 
Kingston ; Sprague, Weston, Winsor and Soule in Duxbury ; 
Lobdell, Harrub and Parker in Plympton, and of Ransom and 
Vaughan and Murdock in Carver, all like the clans of Scot- 
land, keeping within their own borders. Nor were the limits 
within which the various names were found always as broad 
as the bounds of the towns. As for instance there were on 
the north side of the brook the Jacksons, Russells, Hedges, 
Spooners, Cottons, etc., and on the south side the Harlows, 
Dotens, Stephens and Barnes, representatives of each suc- 
ceeding generation, settling among the familiar scenes of their 
youth. A hundred years, or perhaps more, ago, it was the 
custom in town meeting to divide the house in voting on im- 
portant questions, the affirmative voters gathering on the north 
side, and the negative on the south. On one occasion after the 
division, but before the count, the moderator called out — a 
Ponds man on the wrong side of the house. When I see 
the sign of C. B. Harlow on Market street I am tempted to 
say, a Harlow man on the wrong side of the brook. In 185 1 
I was riding from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Shelburne, and 
stopped at the inn in Liverpool for dinner. While eating 
alone, the landlord came into the dining room and entered into 
conversation. I asked him his name, and he said, Bradford 
Harlow, and in answer to my inquiry where he came from he 
said, " You may guess a hundred times and you will not guess 
right." "Well," I said, "I will venture to say that either you 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



303 



or your father came from Plymouth in Massachusetts." "By 
George," he exclaimed, pounding his hand down on the table, 
"You have guessed right the first time." I then told him I 
was a Plymouth man, and I did not believe such a combina- 
tion of names could be found in any other town. His father 
was a ship carpenter, who after the Revolution moved down 
to Liverpool to work at his trade, and made that town his 
future residence. For some reason, which I cannot satisfac- 
torily explain, there was at that time quite a migration of ship 
carpenters from Plymouth to Nova Scotia, which was made 
practicable by the frequent resort of Plymouth ves- 
sels bound to the fishing banks, to the harbors of Shel- 
bume and Barrington and Liverpool. Among them 
were William Drew, who went to Liverpool, and James 
Cox, who went to Shelbume, the latter of whom married 
there Elizabeth Rowland about the year 1800, and continued 
there until his death. The late William Rowland Cox of 
Chiltonville, a son of James, and a well known master car- 
penter, came to Plvmouth as long ago as I can remember, and 
Martha Taylor, la daughter, also came and married Ephraim 
Bartlett, whose daughter Martha Ann, widow of the late Geo. 
E. Morton, is a much respected resident of Plymouth. 

Ephraim Harlow, above mentioned, was the son of Sylvan- 
us and Desire (Sampson) Harlow, and was born in 1770. He 
was somewhat extensively engaged in navigation and real 
estate. In navigation he not only built one or more vessels 
on his own account, but he was also associated with James 
Bartlett, Jr., and others, in building the bark Fortune in 1822 
for the whale fishery, and at a later period in building the 
schooner Maracaibo, for the same business. In the early part 
of the last century he owned in connection with his brother 
Jesse, Nathaniel Carver, and Benjamin M. Watson all the 
land on the west side of Pleasant street, between the brook and 
Jefferson street extending back to the poor house land, the 
northeasterly part of which, after sundry sales and divisions, 
came into his sole possession. On this part he built the house 
which he occupied until his death, on Robinson street in the 
rear of the old Robinson church. In the rear of his house 
he opened a Court in 1825, and built a house which was occu- 
pied by James Morton, sexton of the Unitarian church, whom 



304 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

I remember sitting during the service at the head of the 
south pulpit stairs. Mr. Harlow was a man of tried probity 
and intelligence, receptive of various measures of reform, such 
as anti-slavery and temperance measures, which both he and 
his family did much to support. He married in 1794 Jerusha, 
daughter of Thos. Doten, and had Jerusha Howes, Ephraim, 
Thos. Doten and Jabez. He married second, Ruth, daughter 
of William Sturtevant of Carver and had Jane, 1808, who 
married Atwood L. Drew, Hannah Shaw, 1810, who married 
George Adams, Ruth Sturtevant, 181 5, whose early death was 
lamented by a large circle of friends ; Zilpha Washburn, 1818, 
who married Nathaniel Bourne Spooner, and Desire Samp- 
son, 1821. He died December 15, 1859. 

The house on the corner of Pleasant and Sandwich streets, 
now occupied by William H. Harlow, was built by his grand- 
father, Jesse Harlow, not long after the Revolution, and in 
my early days was occupied by David Harlow, the father of 
the present occupant, who kept a store there for many years. 
David Harlow married in 1823, Eliza Sherman, daughter of 
Lewis and Betsey (Weston) Finney, and had David L., who 
married Lucy Cook of Kingston ; Isaac Newton, who married 
Catherine Weston; Henry M., who married Sarah F. Cowen; 
Ezra, who married Catherine Covington ; Ann Eliza, Han- 
nah, Pelham W., who married Etta H. Mayo; Edward P., 
who married Nancy Sanford of Taunton, and William H., 
who married Annie Gibbs of Providence. David Harlow died 
July 22, 1859. 

The house on Sandwich street, next but one to the David 
Harlow house, was built in 1825 by George Harlow, who 
bought the lot on which it stands, in that year from the heirs 
of Thomas Doty. George Harlow was the son of Samuel and 
Remembrance (Holmes) Harlow, and was born in 1789. He 
was in my day chiefly engaged in the Grand Bank fishery. He 
married in 1813, Lydia, daughter of Nathaniel Ellis, and had 
Nathaniel Ellis, 181 3, who married Julia A. Whiting of Ban- 
gor; Lydia, 1819, who married Albert Tribble ; Esther, 1821, 
who married John Henry Hollis ; George Henry, 1823, who 
married Sarah E. Morton, and Samuel, who married Mary H. 
Bradford. Mr. Harlow died May 9, 1865. 

I must not wander far beyond the brook without a notice 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 305 

of Rev. Adoniram Judson, the distinguished Baptist irTission- 
ary, who was a citizen of Plymouth from 1802 to 1812, and 
who always, until his death, considered it his American home. 
His father, Rev. Adoniram Judson, was born in Woodbury in 
1 75 1, and graduated at Yale in 1775. After settlements in 
Maiden and \\>nham he was settled, May 12, 1802, the first 
pastor of the third Plymouth church near Training Green. Be- 
fore coming to Plymouth he married Abigail, daughter of 
Abraham Brown of Tiverton, and had four children, Adoni- 
ram, Elnathan, Abigail Brown and Mary Alice. Elnathan, 
bom probably in Wenham in 1795, was a surgeon in the United 
States Navy, and died in Washington ]\Iay 8, 1829. Of Marv 
Alice I know nothing. Abigail Brown was born in ]\Ialden 
March 21, 1791, and died in Plymouth, where since 1802 she 
had always lived, January 25, 1884. I remember her well, 
and many times called at her home to talk with her about her 
brother, Adoniram, and his missionar\- service. She was a 
calm, placid woman, with a saintly face, and in everything but 
speech resembled a Quakeress. The last time I saw her she 
was crossing Town Square on a hot summer day, wearing a 
green calash pulled down by the ribbon loop attached to its 
front, to protect her face from the rays of the sun. The 
father continued his pastorate until 1817, when becoming a 
Baptist he resigned, and after preaching for the Plymouth 
Baptists, then worshipping in Old Colony Hall, previous to 
the erection of their meeting house on Spring street in 1822, 
he removed in 1820 to Scituate, where he died November 28, 
1826. During his Plymouth pastorate he became the owner 
of all the lots of land on the west side of Pleasant street, 
which for a time was called Judson street, from the lot now 
owned by Chas. P. Hatch to Jefferson street inclusive. On 
the Hatch lot he built and occupied the house, which with con- 
siderable alteration is now standing, and in 1808 sold it to his 
daughter, Abigail, who made it her home until her death in 
1884. Rev. Adoniram Judson, the missionary, son of Rev. 
Adoniram and Abigail (Brown) Judson, was born in Maiden, 
August 9, 1788, and graduated at Brown University in 1807. 
After leaving college he taught a private school two years in 
Plymouth, where he published the "Young Ladies' Arithmetic," 
and a work on English Grammar. Until 1810 his religious 



306 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

views were unsettled, but in that year he joined his father's 
church, and after a short time at the Andover Seminary was 
admitted to preach by the Orange Association of Congrega- 
tional ministers in Vermont. Having determined to enter the 
missionary service, he sailed for England with the view of 
making the necessary arrangements, and was captured by a 
French privateer, and after a short imprisonment at Bayonne, 
reached England, returning in 1811, and being ordained as mis- 
sionary at Salem, February 6, 18 12. He married February 
5, 1812, Ann Hazeltine, of Bradford, Mass., and daughter of 
John and Rebecca Hazeltine, and sailed for Calcutta on the 
19th of that month. Soon after reaching India he became a 
Baptist, and severing his connection with the American Board 
he was baptized by Dr. Carey, the English missionary at Se- 
rampore. When the war broke out between the East India 
Company and the Burman Government, Dr. Judson was arrest- 
ed for alleged complicity with the English, and suffered a 
long imprisonment, during which a child, Maria E. B. Judson, 
was born, who died April 24, 1827, at the age of two years 
and three months. Mrs. Judson died at Amherst, Burman 
Empire, October 24, 1826. In 1834 he married Sarah Hall 
Boardman, widow of Rev. George Dana Boardman, and daugh- 
ter of Ralph and Abiah Hall of Alstead, N. H., who died on 
her way to America at St. Helena, September i, 1845. In the 
autumn of that year Dr. Judson made his first and only visit 
to the United States, where he remained until July, 1846. 
During that visit it was my privilege to meet him. At that 
time the mail stage for Boston, leaving Plymouth at half past 
ten, met the accommodation stage leaving Boston at eleven 
o'clock, and the passengers dined together at the half way 
house in West Scituate, and there I met and sat next to him at 
the dinner table. He was rather above the average height, 
had brown hair, a smooth face, and an expression indicative of 
a life of serious thought and sad experience. He reminded 
me of portraits of Charles the First, and also of the portrait 
now in Pilgrim Hall of Governor Josiah Winslow, in both of 
which is depicted the expression to which I have referred. 
During his visit he married in June, 1846, Emily Chubbuck, a 
native of Eaton, N. Y., known in the literary world as Fanny 
Forester, and sailed with her for India in the following month. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 307 

By his second wife his children were Adoniram, Ehiathan, 
Henry, Edward and Abby Ann, and by his third wife, a daugh- 
ter, Emily, who married a Mr. Hanna. Dr. Judson died at sea 
April 12, 1850, and his widow returning to America in 1851, 
died June i, 1854. His great literary works were a Burmese 
translation of the Scriptures, and a Burmese English diction- 
ary. 

Ichabod, son of Ichabod and Sarah (Churchill) Morton, was 
born in Plymouth in January, 1790. He always lived in 
Wellingsley, but precisely where he was born I am unable to 
say. His father built the house now owned by the heirs of 
Edwin Morton, when Ichabod was a year old, and there he 
lived until he bought in 1829 the house in which he died. For 
many years he kept with his brother Edwin, a general store in 
a building which was erected and occupied as a dwelling house 
by Eleazer Churchill. The firm of I. & E. Morton early added 
to their business that of the Grand Bank fishery, and also built 
vessels engaged in coatwise and foreign trade. They were the 
earliest traders in Plymouth to abandon the sale of intoxi- 
cating liquors, and among the first to join the movement against 
the institution of slavery. Mr. Morton became also much 
interested in the cause of education, and in town meetings 
strongly advocated increasing appropriations for the support 
of public schools. When the policy was adopted bv the state 
of establishing Normal schools, he only needed the co-operation 
of the leading men in Plymouth to make his own earnest eflforts 
successful in securing the location here of the school which 
was established in Bridgewater. Horace Mann publicly rec- 
ognized in him one of his ablest coadjutors in the cause of ed- 
ucation. For a short time his business was interrupted by his 
association with the Brook Farm enterprise, but the dreams of 
that social experiment soon gave way to the practical pursuits 
of business life. He married Patty, daughter of Coomer 
Weston, and had November 22, 1821, a daughter, Abigail, who 
married Manuel A. Diaz. He married second Betsey, daughter 
of Gideon Holbrook, and had George E., 1829, Nathaniel, 
1831, Ichabod, 1833, Austin, 1834, and Howard, 1836, and 
died May 10, 186 1. Mrs. Diaz, well known as a writer, died 
in Belmont in the spring of 1904, and was buried at Mount 
Auburn. 



308 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

One of the measures in which at one time Mr. Morton was 
much interested, was that for a division of the town. In 1855, 
at the time when the construction of town water works was 
decided, it was supposed by many in the south part of the town 
that the pecuniary burden which the enterprise would impose 
on the town, it was their duty to adopt every means to escape. 
Henry W. Cushman, who had been Lieutenant Governor of 
Massachusetts from 185 1 to 1853, had expressed a desire for 
the incorporation of a town bearing his name, and it was under- 
stood that the christening might confer a financial benefit on 
the town so named. It was thought therefore that the time was 
a favorable one to have the southerly part of the town set ofif 
under the name of Cushman. If I remember rightly the divid- 
ing line asked for in the petition of Caleb Morton and others 
ran from the harbor, through Winter and Mount Pleasant 
streets. Favorable reports were made in both 1855 ^^^ 1856, 
but the bills recommended for passage were rejected. Mr. 
Morton took an active part in urging the division, but I suspect 
that neither he nor any person now living regretted the issue. 

Two other attempts to divide the town have been made since 
Kingston was set off and incorporated in 1726. In 1783 ten 
heads of families representing themselves as composing one- 
sixth of the precinct of Manomet Ponds petitioned the General 
Court to have Cedarville and Ellisville set off to Sandwich, 
The petitioners who were given leave to withdraw were, Seth 
Mendall, Wm. Ellis, Thomas Ellis, Eleazer Ellis, Barnabas 
Ellis, Phineas Swift, Samuel Morris, Prince Wadsworth, Sam- 
uel Gibbs and Catherine Swift. Another movement in favor 
of a division was started in 1837, but when brought before the 
town it was defeated by a vote of 376 to 246. 

While the question of the division was pending in 1855 and 
1856, I was chairman of the Board of Selectmen, and of course 
was cognizant of all that was done to defeat the measure. In 
those days the members of the legislature remained during the 
week in Boston, or its immediate vicinity, only going home to 
spend the Sabbath. The board invited them to make an ex- 
cursion to Plymouth on Fast Day, and entertained them at the 
Samoset House. It is needless to say that the argument was 
conclusive. A more difficult task awaited the board the next 
year to oppose a petition to change the shire to Bridgewater, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 309 

As soon as the legislature of 1857 came together, the board of 
which I was still chairman, placed printed remonstrances in the 
hands of reliable men in every town in the county, which pour- 
ed into the legislature bearing, I think, the names of a majority 
of the voters of the county. A similiar petition was sent to 
the legislature at a time earlier than I can remember, headed 
by Col. Sylvanus Lazell of Bridgewater, who unfamiliar with 
the meaning of words, claimed that Plymouth had been a sea- 
port long enough, and that it was Bridgewater's turn. At that 
time a resolve was passed by the legislature requiring the sub- 
mission of two questions to the voters of the county : First, 
are you in favor of a removal of the shire, and second, in what 
town shall the shire be located. In answer to these questions 
a majority voted for a removal, and singularly enough, a ma- 
jority also voted in favor of Plymouth for the location. With 
the erection of a Court house in Brockton, and the erection of 
a Registry in Plymouth, I think the crisis is passed, and that 
no further attempts will be made to remove the shire. The in- 
creasing population of Plymouth will serve to check the dis- 
turbance of the equilibrium of the county, which the growth of 
Brockton has heretofore caused. 



3IO PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



The following professional men have not heretofore been 
mentioned in these memories : 

Dr. F. G. Oehme, a German homeopathic physician, came to 
Plymouth about 1857, and occupied for a time the house on 
Middle street, now owned by Charles H. Frink, and later 
bought the house on Court street occupied in recent years by 
George E. Morton. He had an office at one time in the sec- 
ond story of the building on Main street, now occupied by H. 
H. Cole. He sold his dwelling house in 1873 to Martha T. 
Bartlett, the widow of Ephraim Bartlett, and removed to Long 
Island, from thence going to Portland, Oregon, where he died 
in 1905. 

Dr. Ervin Webster, born in Vermont, January 25, 1828, came 
to Plymouth in 18^0, and established himself as a botanic phy- 
sician in the rooms on Main street, now occupied by Loring's 
watchmaker's store. With his son, Olin E., four years of age, 
he was drowned in Billington Sea, August 28, 1856. 

Dr. George F. Wood, son of Isaac Lewis and Elizabeth 
(Robbins) Wood, was born in Plymouth, March 12, 1841. He 
married Sarah E., daughter of Sylvanus Harvey, and estab- 
lished himself as a physician in an office on the North side of 
Town Square. He died October 27, 1868. 

Dr. Nathaniel Lothrop, son of Isaac and Priscilla fThomas) 
(Watson) Lothrop, was born in Plymouth in 1737, and grad- 
uated at Harvard in 1756. He married first, Ellen, daughter 
of Noah Hobart of Fairfield, Conn., and second, Lucy, daugh- 
ter of Abraham Hammatt of Plymouth, and died October 9, 
1828. 

Dr. Robert Capen taught a private school in Plymouth in 
1828, and in 1830 was practising medicine with an office in the 
Marcy house, which stood on North street, where Dr. W. G. 
Brown's house stands. I do not know either the date or place 
of his death. 

Dr. Mercy B. Jackson, widow of Daniel Jackson, belonged to 
the Homeopathic school and practiced in Plymouth and Boston, 
and died in 1877. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 3II 

Dr. Isaac LeBaron, known in my day as an apothecary, was 
always called Doctor, but I do not know that he was educated 
as a physician. He lived through my early youth in a house 
standing- on the upper corner of Leyden street and LeBaron 
Alley, and had his shop in a one story building on Main street, 
where Dr. Hubbard's house now stands. At a later time he 
lived in the house on the corner of North and Main streets, and 
had his shop in the same building. He married in 181 1 Mary 
Doane of Boston, and died, January 29, 1849. 

Dr. Parker came to Plymouth about 1882 and occupied for a 
short time the house now owned by Arthur Lord, but whence 
he came and where he went I do not know. 

Dr. Warren Peirce succeeded Dr. Parker, and occupied tlie 
same house until it was sold to Mr. Lord, when he moved to the 
house at the lower angle of Carver street. He was born in 
Tyngsboro, Mass., Nov. 30, 1840, and graduated at the Har- 
vard Medical School in 1869. He enlisted May 11, 1864, in 
Co. K First Regiment of Heavy Artillery of Massachusetts, 
and was appointed Hospital steward. After he received his 
degree he practised some years in Boylston or West Boylston. 
He was the son of Dr. Augustus and Alectia (Butterfield) 
Peirce. His father was born in New Salem March 13, 1803, 
and died in 1849. Dr. Warren Peirce died in Plymouth, July 
10, 1898. 

Dr. Francis B. Brewer had in 1850 an office at the corner of 
Main and Middle streets, but I do not know whether he was 
engaged in general practise or exclusively in that of dentistry. 
He was succeeded in the same year by Dr. Robert D. Foster, 
who advertised himself as having had "the most ample exper- 
ience in operative surgery, both in England and the United 
States." 

In September, 1855, Dr. James L. Hunt occupied the office 
which Dr. Brewer and Dr. Foster had occupied, but I know 
neither his specialty nor the length of his service in Plymouth. 

Dr. Andrew Mackie, son of Dr. Andrew of Wareham, was 
born in 1799, and graduated at Brown in 1814. He came to 
Plymouth in 1829, and lived on the corner of Market and Ley- 
den streets, and in the house next below the rooms of Mr. Bea- 
man on Middle street. He removed to New Bedford soon 
after 1832. 



312 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Dr. John Flavel Gaylord, son of Ebenezer and Jane (Phelps) 
Gaylord, was born in Amherst, Mass., March 22, 1852. He 
fitted for college at the Hopkin's Grammar school and grad- 
uated at Yale in 1876. He took his degree from the Yale 
Aledical school in 1878, and completed his studies in 1879 ^^^ 
1880 at the University of Berlin, and at Heilbronn. On his 
return home he practised a few years in Cincinnati, and settled 
in Plymouth in 1889, where he married Susan, daughter of 
William Rider Drew, and died April 14, 1903. 

Dr. Charles James Wood came to Plymouth in 1866 and set- 
tled in Chiltonville. He was son of Leonard Wood, and was 
born in Leicester, Mass., February 18, 1827, and was educated 
at the Leicester Academy. He practised in Barre, Chilton- 
ville, Sandwich and Pocasset, in which latter place he died Aug- 
ust 25, 1880. I remember him as attending with Dr. Alex- 
ander Jackson in Manomet Ponds, the sailors who were wreck- 
ed in the bark Velma in 1867. He was the father of General 
Leonard Wood, now in the Philippines, who attended school in 
Chiltonville. 

Dr. John C. Bennett appeared in Plymouth in 1835, and ad- 
vertised himself an eclectic physician "formerly professor of 
obsteric medicine and surgery." The various medicines pre- 
pared by him were claimed to be infallible ones for many dis- 
eases ; and of a tooth extractor invented by him, it was said by 
an enthusiastic friend that it made the extraction of a tooth an 
operation of pleasure instead of pain. He married Sally, 
daughter of Job Rider of Plymouth, and lived and had his office 
on Summer street. The introduction by him of the Plymouth 
Rock breed of fowls gave him a reputation of a more substan- 
tial character than his medicines. In 1842 he published "The 
History of the Saints," an expose of Joe Smith and Mormon- 
ism. 

Dr. John Bachelder, son of John and Mary Bachelder, was 
bom in Mason, N. H., March 23, 1818, and graduated at Dart- 
mouth in 1841. He began to practice in Monument in 1844, 
and married Martha Swift Keene of Sandwich, September 30, 
1846, afterwards removing to Plymouth, where he died Octo- 
ber 28, 1876. 

Of Dr. Benjamin Hubbard I make an exception among the 
living physicians, and include in these memories a notice due 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 313 

to his age and long practice in Plymouth. He was born in 
Holden, Mass., November 25, 1817, the son of Benjamin and 
Polly (Walker) Hubbard. He came to Plymouth in 1840 and 
studied medicine with his brother, Dr. Levi Hubbard, and af- 
ter attending one term at the college at Woodstock, Vt., grad- 
uated at the Pittsfield Medical college in 1844. After receiv- 
ing his degree he practiced six months in South Weymouth, 
and then came to Plymouth, succeeding his brother, who re- 
moved in the autumn of 1844 to New Bedford. Aside from 
his practice he has been assiduous in his devotion to the welfare 
of the Baptist Society, which owes him a debt which it grate- 
fully acknowledges, but can never repay. He married June 
29, 1844, Ellen Maria, daughter of Elisha Perry of Sandwich, 
and is enjoying in a serene old age the love and respect of the 
community, whom for more than sixty years he has faithfully 
served. 

William Davis, son of Nathaniel Morton and Harriet Lazell 
(Mitchell) Davis, was born in Plymouth May 12, 1818. He 
fitted for college at the Boston Latin school, and graduated 
at Harvard in 1837. He studied law with his father, and at 
the Harvard Law school, and was admitted to the Suffolk bar 
January 18, 1841. In those days it was the custom in the 
Harv^ard Law school to hold a moot court once each winter for 
which the jury was drawn from the senior class in college, and 
lots were drawn among the senior law students for the posi- 
tions of senior and junior counsel on each side. William M. 
Evarts was in the law school, and having come from Yale col- 
lege with a high reputation for eloquence, it was taken for 
granted that if unsuccessful in the drawing, one of the success- 
ful ones would surrender his place to him. Mr. Davis, one of 
the successful ones, declined to give up his position as senior 
counsel for the defendant, but a place was given to Mr. Evarts 
as senior counsel for the plaintiff. As Mr. Davis lived in Bos- 
ton with his grandmother, he was little known by his fellow 
students, and when the trial came on the lecture room of the 
school was crowded with law students and undergraduates to 
hear the eloquent man from Yale. I was one of the jury, and 
I remember well the astonishment with which the masterly 
speech of Mr. Davis was received. Some years afterwards 
Mr. Richard H. Dana, who was a member of the law school at 



314 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

the time, told me that the unanimous verdict of the school was 
that Mr. Davis was the star of the occasion. iMr. Evarts was 
eloquent, but Mr. Davis possessed a grace of gesture and 
speech which caused his hearers to ask who the man was who 
had overmatched the eloquence of the man from Yale. 

Mr. Evarts lost his eloquence as his practice at the bar in- 
creased, and he became addicted to the use of long sentences, 
which made his hearers wonder how he could escape from his 
labyrinth of words without forgetting his nominative. He 
said to a friend who criticized this defect in his rhetoric that in 
his long experience at the bar the prisoner in the dock was the 
only person who objected to long sentences. He was a man 
of humor, and while secretary of state in the cabinet of Presi- 
dent Hayes, who never had wine on his table no matter who 
were his guests, he said one day to a lady sitting next to him 
at the state dinner, when the Roman punch was served — "Ah, 
v/e have reached the life saving station." The next day when 
a friend asked him how the dinner went off he said, "Splendid- 
ly, water flowed like champagne." 

Returning from this digression, Mr. Davis settled in Plym- 
outh, and was appointed in 1844 aide with the rank of Lieuten- 
ant Colonel on the staff of Governor George N. Briggs, and in 
1850, 185 1 and 1852, was chairman of the Board of Selectmen. 
From 1844 to 1852, he was Vice-President of the Pilgrim So- 
ciety, and from 1848 to 1850 inclusive, a Director of the Plym- 
outh Bank. He married December 2, 1849, Helen, daughter 
of John and Deborah (Spooner) Russell, and had Harriet 
Mitchell in September, 1850, who died in December, 1852, and 
William, September 2y, 1853. He died February 19, 1853. 

William H. Whitman, son of Kilborn and Elizabeth (Wins- 
low) Whitman, was born in Pembroke, January 26, 1817. He 
studied law with Thomas Prince Beal of Kingston, and began 
practice in Bath, Maine, where his sister, Sarah Ann, the wife 
of Benjamin Randall lived. He moved to Boston in 1844, 
where he practiced law until 185 1, a part of the time a partner 
of Charles G. Davis. In 185 1 he was appointed clerk of the 
Courts of Plymouth County, and continued in office until his 
death. He married in 1846, Ann Sever, daughter of William 
and Sally W. Thomas, and had Isabella Thomas, Elizabeth H. 
and William Thomas. He married second, Helen, widow of 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 315^ 

\Ym. Davis and daug:hter of John Russell, and had Russell, 
Winslow and Ann Thomas. He died August 13, 1889. 

Jedediah K. Hayward was born in Thetford, Vt., August 
14, 1835, and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1859. He 
studied law with Jesse E. Keith of Abington and Charles G. 
Davis of Plymouth, and was admitted to the Plymouth bar 
October 28, 1862. He practiced one year in Plymouth, then 
two years in Boston, and finally moved to New York in 1865, 
where he still lives. 

William Harvey Spear came to Plymouth from Roxbury 
about 1845 to teach the High School, and while teaching, stud- 
ied law. He was a'dmitted to the Plymouth bar in 1848, and 
continued business in Plymouth until his death. He married 
May I, 1 83 1, Catherine Hinsdale, daughter of Nathan Allen of 
Medfield and Dedham, but I find no record of his death. 

William F. Spear, son of Wm. H. anB Catherine H. (Allen) 
Spear, was born in June, 1832, and was admitted to the Plym- 
outh bar in 1853. He married Caroline Augusta, daughter 
of Elisha Whiting, and died in Plymouth, September 21, 1858. 

There was an Edward L. Sherman practicing law in Plym- 
outh about fifty years ago, but I know nothing about him. He 
may have been the Edward Lowell Sherman, a Harvard grad- 
uate of 1854, who was admitted to the Essex bar in 1856, and 
was practicing in Boston in i860, and until his death in 1893. 

Isaac Goodwin, son of William and Lydia Gushing (Samp- 
son) Goodwin, was born in Plymouth, June 28, 1786. He 
studied law with Joshua Thomas, and began practice in Boston, 
afterwards removing to Sterling, and in 1826 to Worcester. 
In 1825 he published a book entitled "The Town Officer," and 
in 1830 another on the duties of a sheriff, which was followed 
by a general history of Worcester County, written for the Wor- 
cester Magazine. At the 150th anniversary of the destruction 
of the town of Lancaster he delivered the oration. He mar- 
ried in 1810, Eliza, daughter of Abraham Hammatt, and had 
Lucy Lothrop, 181 1; Elizabeth Mason 1813, Wm. Hammatt, 
1817, John Emery, 1820, John Abbot, 1824, Mary Jane, 1834. 
who married Loring Henry Austin of Boston, and was the well 
known authoress. He died September 10, 1832. 

Rev. Dr. Joseph Svlvester Clark, son of Seth and Mary 
rTupper) Clark, was born in Manomet Ponds, December 19, 



3l6 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

1800. Dr. Clark was born in a house nearly opposite the res- 
idence of the late Horace B. Taylor. His brother Israel, one 
of the purest of men, was on the board of selectmen with me 
in 1855, and lived at the time in the old homestead. 

In 1818 Rev. Seth Stetson, the pastor of the Manomet 
church, became Unitarian, and in the temporary division of the 
church which followed, Dr. Clark's father was one of Mr. Stet- 
son's followers. As late as 1819 it seems to be certain that 
the son had not been able to believe in the divinity of Christ, 
and he did not become a member of the church until June 9, 
1822, after which time he was a member in full standing of the 
Orthodox Congregational church. At the age of seventeen 
Dr. Clark taught school in Manomet, and soon after in Hing- 
ham, and by his earnings as a teacher and the moderate assist- 
ance which his father could afford to render, he was enabled to 
enter the classical academy at Amherst on the 29th of July, 
1822, and to enter Amherst college in September, 1823, where 
he graduated in due course with valedictory honors. In 1827, 
after a short service as tutor at Amherst, he entered the An- 
dover theological seminary, and after intervals spent in teach- 
ing school, graduated in 183 1. On the second of October, 
183 1, he preached at Sturbridge, Mass., and on the twenty- 
seventh was unanimously invited to become the successor of 
Rev. Alvan Bond in that town. His ordination followed on the 
twenty-first of December. On the twenty-eighth of May, 1839, 
he was appointed secretary of the Massachusetts Missionary 
Society, and severing his connection with the Sturbridge par- 
ish, he entered on the discharge of the duties of secretary con- 
tinuing them until his resignation on the twenty-third of Sept- 
ember, 1857. In 1858 he published "A Historical sketch of the 
Congregational churches of Massachusetts from 1620 to 1858. 
Dr. Park said of him "his experience in the Home Missionary 
work convinced him that Congregationalists had sacrificed the 
spiritual welfare of their own churches to an ill-regarded zeal 
for harmony with other denominations. They had cultivated 
such a dread of sectarianism as induced them to abandon their 
own distinctive principles for the sake of living in peace with 
sectarians who became the more exclusive as Congregational- 
ists became the more liberal." 

At the time of the formation of the Congregational Library 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 317 

Association, he was chosen its Corresponding Secretary in 
May, 1853, and its tinancial agent in June, 1857, and soon after 
united with Rev. H. M. Dexter, and Rev. A. H. Quint, in pub- 
lishing the Congregational quarterly, the first number of which 
was issued in January, 1859. To his unremitting labors was 
largely due the consummation of the project to buy for the 
Association the Crowninshield building, which it long occupied 
on the corner of Beacon and Somerset streets in Boston. In 
1 85 1 he received from his Alma Mater the degree of Doctor of 
Divinity, and in 1852 was chosen a trustee of the college. He 
married December 27, 183 1, Harriet B., daughter of Joseph 
Bourne of New Bedford, and died at the home of his brothers, 
Israel and Nathaniel, at Manomet, August 17, 1861. 

Rev. Ezra Shaw Goodwin, son of General Nathaniel and 
Ruth (Shaw) Goodwin, was born in Plymouth in 1787, and 
was settled as pastor of the first church in Sandwich. He 
married Ellen Watson, daughter of John Davis, and died in 
Sandwich, February 5, 1833. 

Rev. Hersey Bradford Goodwin, son of William and Lydia 
Gushing (Sampson) Goodwin, was born in Plymouth, and 
graduated at Harvard in 1826. He graduated at the Harvard 
Divinity school in 1829, and was settled in Concord. He 
married in 1830, Lucretia Ann, daughter of Benjamin Marston 
Watson of Plymouth, and had Wm. Watson, 1831. He 
married second, Amelia Mackie of Boston, and had Amelia 
and Hersey Bradford, and died in 1836. 

Rev. Thomas Weston, son of Coomer and Hannah (Doten) 
Weston, was born in Plymouth, August 30, 1821. He pre- 
pared for the ministry at the Meadville school in Pennsylvania, 
and was settled at various times over Unitarian societies in 
Northumberland, Penn., Bernardston and New Salem, Mass., 
Farmington, Maine, and Barnstable and Stowe, Mass. He 
married April 29, 1852 Lucinda, daughter of Ralph Cushman 
of Bernardston, and died in Greenfield, Mass., March 29, 1904. 

Rev. James Augustus Kendall, son of Rev. Dr. James and 
Sarah (Poor) Kendall, was born in Plymouth, Nov. i, 1803, 
and graduated at Harvard in 1823. He was settled in Medfield 
six years, and after spending a short time in Stowe and Cam- 
bridge, he removed to Framingham, where he married May 29, 
1833, Maria B., daughter of Col. James Brown, and died May 
16, 1884. 



3l8 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Rev. Sylvester Holmes, son of Sylvester and Grace (Clark) 
Holmes, was born in Manomet Ponds April 6, 1788, and was 
ordained as minister in 181 1. He was for many years engaged 
in the service of the American Bible Society, especially in the 
South, where he was everywhere known among leading men 
of both church and state. From 1861, until 1866, he was set- 
tled over the church at Manomet Ponds, where he married in 
1810 Esther Holmes. He married a second wife, Fanny King- 
man of Bridgewater, and died in New Bedford at the house of 
Ivory H. Bartlett, November 27, 1866. 

Rev. William Faunce, son of Solomon and Eleanor (Brad- 
ford) Faunce, was born in Plymouth about 181 5. In 1840 he 
organized a Christian Baptist Society, and built a meeting 
house near the Russell Mills. After a long pastorate he re- 
moved to Mattapoisett, where he died about ten years ago. He 
married Matilda, daughter of Josiah Bradford, and had Ma- 
tilda B., 1835, who married Weston C. Vaughan, William, 
1837, and Ellen, 1840. 

Rev. Lewis Holmes, son of Peter and Sally (Harlow) 
Holmes, was born in Plymouth, April 12, 181 3, and graduated 
at Colby University. He had settlements at various times 
over Baptist Societies in Edgartown, Scituate, Leicester and 
other places. He married Lydia K., daughter of Pickels Cush- 
fng of Norwell, and died May 24, 1887. 

Rev. Russell Tomlinson, son of David and Polly (Sherman) 
Tomlinson was born in Newtown, Conn., October i, 1808, and 
after fitting for the ministry was settled pastor over a Univer- 
salist Society in Buffalo, N. Y. In September, 1838 he 
came to Plymouth, where he was settled in May, 1839, pastor 
of the Unversalist church as the sucessor of Rev. Albert Case. 
In 1867 he resigned his pastorate, continuing to live in Plym- 
outh until his death, and devoting himself to the practice of 
homeopathy, and the advocacy of the cause of temperance. 
He married Harriet W., daughter of Charles and Mary Ann 
(Williams) May, and died March 4, 1878. 

Rev. George Ware Briggs, son of William and Sally (Pal- 
mer) Briggs, was born in Little Compton, April 8, 1810, and 
graduated at Brown LTniversity in 1825. He graduated at 
the Harvard Divinity school in 1834, and was soon after set- 
tled in Fall River. In 1838 he was installed colleague pastor 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 319 

of Rev. Dr. Jas. Kendall of the First Church in Plymouth, con- 
tinuing in that pastorate until 1852. January 6, 1853, he be- 
came pastor of the First Chuch in Salem. On the first of 
April, 1867, he resigned the Salem pastorate, and in that year 
became pastor of the Third Congregational Church in Cam- 
bridge, located in Cambridge Port, where he remained until his 
death, having a colleague in his later years. He married first 
Lucretia Archbald, daughter of Abner Bartlett, and second 
in 1849, Lucia J., daughter of Nathaniel Russell of Plymouth. 
He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from 
Harvard in 1855, and died in Plymouth, September 10, 1895. 

Rev. Daniel F. Goddard, son of Daniel and Polly (Finney) 
Goddard, was born in Plymouth about 1828, and married in 
1854 Mar\' E., daughter of Ellis Barnes. He studied for the 
ministry, and was settled in various places, including, I think, 
Harvard and Weymouth. He died in 1883. 

Rev. Dr. Daniel Wooster Faunce, son of Peleg and Olive 
(Finney) Faunce, was born in Plymouth, January 3, 1829, and 
graduated at Amherst in 1850. He studied for the ministry 
at the Newton Theological Institute, and was ordained in 
1853. He married, August 15, 1853, Mary P. Perry, and in 
1871 Mary E. Tucker. He was settled in Washington, D. C, 
and Pawtucket, R. I., and was the author of a number of re- 
ligious works. His home is now in Providence, near that of 
his son. Rev. Wm. Herbert Perry Faunce, President of Brown 
Universitv. 



320 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXXIL 

Mention of Plymouth grave yards has been confined thus far 
to a slight allusion to Cole's Hill. Of the many within the 
limits of the town two are burial places of the aborigines, 
Watson's Hill and High Cliflf, and the numerous skeletons ex- 
humed at those places from time to time, make it conclusive 
that they were places set apart for the burial of the dead. The 
grounds in and about the central town have been thoroughly 
explored in laying out streets, in excavating cellars and digging 
trenches for water, gas and sewer pipes, and not enough Indian 
bones have been found to warrant the conclusion that any other 
burial places were used by the Indians than those above men- 
tioned. The discovery of the burial ground at High Cliff was 
brought to my knowledge by an incident in my own experience. 
I met one day in the autumn of 1844 on Court street a little 
girl about six years of age, crying and bleeding at the mouth. 
An older girl leading her told me that she had a pin in her 
throat. I led her to her home on South Russell street, stop- 
ping on the way at Mr. Standish's blacksmith shop to borrow 
a pair of pincers, and soon relieved her from her suffering. 
The next day Mr. Orin Bosworth, learning that I was his little 
daughter's friend, gave me as a reward for my service a stone 
pipe, which he said a gang of laborers, of whom he was fore- 
man, had found in the railroad cut at High Cliff. I visited 
the spot at once, and found that seven or eight skeletons had 
been found, indicating an extensive burial ground, undoubtedly 
antedating the days of the Pilgrims. Some years afterwards, 
after the establishment of the Agassiz Museum in Cambridge, 
the pipe was examined by the experts of the Museum and 
pronounced of European workmanship, probably brought over 
and given to the Indians, either by European fishermen, or 
by one of the early adventurers like Champlain, John Smith 
or Thomas Dermer. It is made of stone about eight inches 
long, with a bowl about an inch square, and is in perfect order. 
I have quite recently seen a drawing of a fragment of a similar 
pipe which was found between the floor timbers of the Spar- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 32I 

row-hawk, wrecked on Cape Cod in 1626, the timbers of which 
have been put together, and are now in Pilgrim Hall. The 
burial ground in question owes its escape from forgetfulness 
to the pin in the throat of little Hannah Elizabeth Bosworth. 

Passing by Burial Hill and Cole's Hill to be mentioned later, 
there are Oak Grove and Vine Hills cemeteries ; the Catholic 
cemetery; two burial grounds in Chiltonville, one at Bram- 
hall's corner, and one at the Russell Mills meeting house; 
three at Manomet, one where the first meeting house stood not 
far from the residence of the late Horace B. Taylor, one at 
the present meeting house, a modern Indian burial ground, 
on an Indian reservation on the westerly side of Fresh Pond ; 
one at South Ponds, near the Chapel ; one at the head of Half 
Way Ponds ; one at the head of Long Pond ; one near Bloody 
Pond, and one at Cedarville There are also burial places in 
the South part of the town, which have been devoted to fam- 
ily uses and single graves may be found near Hospital land- 
ing at Billington Sea, and on the South Pond road, where 
the old pest house stood. At the last place there i? a head- 
stone at the grave of Mary, wife of Thomas Mayhew, who 
died September 3, 1776, aged 54 years. She was a daughter 
of Thomas Withereli, and as her husband was one of the most 
prominent men in the town, it is probable that she died of small 
pox, and that the removal of her body to a grave among her 
deceased relatives was thought dangerous. 

I take the liberty to suggest that the selectmen set up a 
bronze tablet in the Indian burial ground at Fresh Pond with 
the following inscription, including an extract from a poem 
by the Rev. Theodore Dwight ; 

"Indian Burial Ground." 
"This tablet is erected in memory of the Indian tribes whose ex- 
tinction, beginning in the Plymouth Colony, is now almost complete." 
"Indulge my native land, indulge a tear. 
That steals impassioned o'er a nation's doom ; 
To me each twig from Adam's stock is dear, 
And sorrows fall on an Indian's tomb." 
With regard to Cole's Hill, the impression has prevailed 
that burials there were confined to the winter of 1620 and 
1621. After a somewhat thorough examination of evidence 
ond probabilities. I have reached the conclusion thai this im- 
presssion is not correct. I have already stated that no record 



322 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

exists of the discovery of the remains of white men except on 
Cole's and Burial Hill. Pretty thorough explorations beneath 
the surface of the ground, in or near the main town settle- 
ment, prove with reasonable certainty that one of these two 
places was during the early years of the Plymouth Colony the 
place of burial. It is an interesting fact that the Pilgrims, 
unlike the Puritans, followed the English custom of burying 
their dead in the church yard, a spot as near as possible to 
their place of worship. In Duxburv the first meeting house 
was built near the shore, not far from the base of Captain's 
Hill, and the first burials were made immediately about it. In 
Marshfield the first meeting house was built near the tomb 
of Daniel Webster, and what is called the Winslow burial 
ground, which incloses that tomb, was the church yard. There 
is every reason to believe that the same custom prevailed in 
Plymouth. The Common house was for many years used for 
public worship, except in times of impending dangers when 
resort was temporarily had to the fort, on what is now Burial 
Hill, and Cole's Hill, sloping down to that house lying directly 
at its base was the church yard. As long then as the Com- 
mon House was the place of public worship, I cannot doubt 
that Cole's Hill was the burial place, and that when the first 
meeting house was built on the North side of Town Square, 
Burial Hill sloping down to its walls, became the church yard 
and the place for depositing the bodies of the dead. 

In this view of the case it becomes important, in deciding 
when burials ceased to be made on Cole's Hill, to ascertain 
when the first meeting house proper was built. Upon this 
question there has been a difference of opinion, some writers 
saying 1637, and some 1647. Those fixing the time at 1647 
have based their opinion, so far as I can discover, on the his- 
toric record that the town meeting held in May, 1649 was held 
in the meeting house, and on the fact that the meeting house 
was then for the first time mentioned as the place for holding 
town meetings. The meeting held on the loth of July, 1638, is 
recorded as having been held in the Governor's house, and it is 
asked by the advocates of the later date why should that meet- 
ing have been held in the Governor's house if the meeting 
house was built in 1637. It must be remembered that the pur- 
pose of the meeting house was not to furnish a place for civic 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 323 

meetings, but a place for religious worship, and that only the 
increasing numbers of the settlement in 1649 outgrew the 
capacity of the Governor's house, and rendered the use of 
the meeting house at that time one of necessity. And again 
it must be remembered that with the single exception of 
the meeting, July 16, 1638, no meeting place is mentioned until 
May 17, 1649, ^"cl for all that is known to the contrary, meet- 
ing after meeting before 1649 "^^Y bave been held in the meet- 
ing house without any record of the meeting place. Mr. Good- 
win in a foot note on page 231 of the "Pilgrim Republic," 
makes it appear that the record states that the meeting of May 
17, 1649, was held in the new meeting house, but the word 
(new) is not in the record, and therefore adds no weight to 
the argument in support of the date of 1647. The question 
may be pertinently asked, "Why, if the meeting house was 
built in 1647 was its occupation for town meetings delayed 
until ^lay 17, 1649?" a"*^ this question is as difficult to answer 
as the other, "Why was it not earlier devoted to civic uses if it 
was built in 1637." 

The probabilities in favor of 1637 are too strong to be 
overcome. Until 1636, after the settlement of Duxbury was 
made, it was a mooted question whether the meeting house 
should not be built in some place midway between the two set- 
tlements. A decision was reached in that year, and at once the 
meeting house in Duxbury was built in 1637, making it probable 
that Plymouth followed and built its meeting house in the 
same year. It would be a severe reflection on the religious 
spirit and enterprise of the Plymouth people to suppose that 
Duxbury built its house of worship in 1637, and Marshfield in 
1641, while the erection of the meeting house of the parent 
church of which Wm. Brewster was the Elder, was delayed 
ten years longer. 

But we are not left alone to probabilities. In the will of 
William Palmer, executed in November, 1637, and probated 
in the following March, is a clause providing for the pay- 
ment "of somewhat to the meeting house in Plymouth." 

Thus then in my opinion Burial Hill became the church yard 
in 1637. It retained its name of Fort Hill many years, and 
under that name extended across what is now Russell street 
along the rear of the estates on the west side of Court street. 



324 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

At a town meeting held on the 14th of May, 171 1, it was 
voted to sell "all the common lands about the fort hills reserv- 
ing sufficient room for a burying place." From that time 
Burial Hill has remained practically within its present limits. 
But it is asked why is the headstone of Edward Gray bearing 
the date of 1681 the oldest stone on the hill. The answer is 
to be found first in the undoubted fact that for many years it 
was not the custom to mark the graves with stones, and sec- 
ond, in the depredations to which stones were subjected by neg- 
lect and rough usage. In the early days of the Colony slate 
stone was not found within accessible distances, and when they 
were finally imported from England, their cost undoubtedly 
precluded their general use. Many of those imported were 
creased and opened to the weather, and finally were disin- 
tegrated by frost and broken up. I, myself, by the permission 
of the selectmen, and of course at the cost of the towii, devised 
a kind of hood made of galvanized iron with which I have 
protected seventy or more from both the influence of frost and 
the no less destructive invasions of relic hunting vandals. So 
far as neglect of the hill is concerned, I can find no sugges- 
tion in the records of any proposition to protect the hill until 
1757, when it was voted to fence it. Nothing was done, how- 
ever, until 1782, when it was voted to permit Rev. Chandler 
Robbins to fence and pasture it with the right at any time to 
remove the fence and possess it as his own. Then for the first 
time the hill was fenced, and Mrs. Robbins, after the death of 
her husband petitioned the town to buy the fence. In 1800 it 
was voted to permit Rev. Dr. Kendall to pasture the hill and 
build a fence on condition that no horses be permitted within 
the inclosure. Before that time it is evident that horses were 
permitted to pasture it, and the treatment to which the stones 
were thus exposed, is easily imagined. In later times, decayed 
and fallen stones have been piled up behind the hearse house, 
Avhere masons in want of covering stones have taken them at 
their pleasure. Of late years, however, th,e hill has had better 
treatment, and the stones v/hich have fallen have been reset at 
the expense of the town. It is unnecessary to say that the most 
vigilant care on the part of the town should be used, for 
aside from all sentimental reasons, and aside from the duty of 
the town to realize that it holds the hill in trust for all our 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 325 

country, the hill and its stones form a commercial asset of in- 
calculable value. An attempt was made in 18 19 to plant orna- 
mental trees on the hill, but either nothing was done, or the 
attempt to carry out the vote of the town proved a failure. In 
1843 another more successful attempt was made, and a large 
number of trees were planted, and the duty of keeping them 
well watered was assigned to the scholars in the High school. 
Many of these survived, and others have at various times been 
added. 

Among the conclusions to which I have been led by the 
foregoing review, is this, that Elder Brewster, Governor Brad- 
ford and John Rowland, and the other Mayflower passengers 
who died in Plymouth after 1637, were buried on Burial Hill. 
With regard to the burial of the Elder, I am obliged to reverse 
the opinion heretofore expressed by me, that he was buried in 
Duxbury. There are on record two inventories of the pro- 
perty of Brewster, one of his house and its contents in Dux- 
bury, and the other of his house and its contents in Plymouth. 
The contents of the former are so meagre and unimportant as 
to make it certain that the Duxbury house was only an oc- 
casional 'residence, while those of the latter, consisting of cloth- 
ing and a full household equipment, prove that he died in 
Plymouth, and that there was his permanent home. Besides 
Brewster was the Elder of Plymouth church, and of course 
lived among his people, and further, Bradford says in his his- 
tory, that Mrs. Brewster died before 1627, before the Duxbury 
settlement began, and of course was buried in Plymouth, near 
whose grave the Elder would have sought for himself a final 
resting place. 

The inscriptions on the gravestones, though not quaint, are 
interesting to others besides the antiquary, and a few of them 
I shall include in this chapter without either alphabetical or 
chronological order as follows : 

"Priscilla Cotton, widow of Josiah Cotton, born September 
30, i860, died October 4, 1859." 

Mrs. Cotton lived and died in a house which was removed 
when Brewster street was opened, and now stands on the 
North side of that street. She told me that at the time of the 
Boston tea party in 1773 she attended a boarding school a little 
below the Old South Meeting house, and remembered some of 



326 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

the incidents attending the destruction of the tea. A man ser- 
vant brought home some of the tea, but some of the scholars 
refused to drink it. After her husband's death in 1819, she 
bought an annuity at the office of the Massachusetts Hospital 
Life Insurance Company, which after forty years of payment 
was terminated, much to the satisfaction of the company. 

"In memory of Samuel Davis, A. M., who died July 10, 
1829." 

"From life on earth our pensive friend retires ; 
His dust commingling with the Pilgrim sires ; 
In thoughtful walk, their every path he traced; 
Their toils, their tombs, his faithful page embraced ; 
Peaceful and pure, and innocent as they, 
With them to rise to everlasting day." 

The above inscription and the following one were written 
by Judge John Davis. 

"In memory of George Watson, Esq.,who died the 3d of 

December, 1800." 

"No folly wasted his paternal store, 
No guilt, no sordid avarice made it more ; 
With honest fame, and sober plenty crowned. 
He lived and spread his cheering influence round. 
Pure was his walk, and peaceful was his end. 
We blessed his reverent length of days. 
And hailed him in the public ways 
With veneration and with praise, 
Our father and our friend." 

"F. W. Jackson, obiit., March 23, 1799, aged one year, 7 
days." 

"Heaven knows what man he might have been, 
But we know he died a most rare boy." 

"In memory of Mrs. Tabitha Flasket, who died June 10, 
1807, aged 64 years." 

"Adieu vain world, I have seen enough of thee, 
And I am careless what thou say'st of me ; 
Thy smiles I wish not, nor thy frowns I fear, 
I am now at rest, my head lies quiet here." 

"Died, Captain Simeon Sampson, June 22, 1789, aged 53 
years." 

Capt. Sampson was an early hero of the revolution, who 
commanded the Brig Independence, built in Kingston, and the 
first vessel commissioned by the provincial Congress. 

An obelisk over the supposed grave of Governor William 
Bradford contains among other inscriptions a Hebrew sentence 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 327 

which translated is "Jehovah is the portion of mine inheri- 
tance." 

"Here lyeth buried the body of that precious servant of God, 
Air. Thomas Cushman, who after he had served his generation 
according to the will of God, particularly the Church of Plym- 
outh for many years in the office of ruling elder, fell asleep 
in Jesus, December, ye lo, 1691, & in ye 84 year of his age." 

Elder Cushman was brought to Plymouth in the Fortune, 
fourteen years of age, by his father, Robert Cushman, and was 
the second elder of the church. 

"Here lyes ye body of Mr. Thomas Clark, aged 98 years, de- 
parted this life March ye 24, 1697." 

The mate of the Mayflower was John Clark, and not the 
above Thomas. A part of the colony grant of land in Chilton- 
ville to Thomas Clark was called by him Saltash. An outlying 
suburb of old Plymouth is called Saltash, and the name of 
Clark is common there. 

"Here lyeth ye body of Edward Gray, aged about 52 years, 
& departed this life ye last of June, 1681." 

The stone bearing the above inscription is the oldest stone 
on Burial Hill. Mr. Gray became a prominent business man 
and owned lands in Rocky Nook, some of which is still owned 
by his descendants. 

"Here lyes the body of Mr. Thomas Faunce, ruling Elder of 
the First Church of Christ in Plymouth, deceased February 
2"]. An : Dom, 1745-6, in the 99th year of his age." 

"The fathers where are they : 
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." 

"Ruth D., wife of Edward Southworth, died May 8, 1879, 
aged loi yrs., 10 mos., 13 days." 

Mrs. Southworth's maiden name was Ozier, and she came 
from Duxbury. She lived all through my boyhood on the slope 
of Cole's Hill. I called on her on her hundredth birthday, and 
she told me that she had not worn spectacles for twenty years. 
Her son, Jacob William, is now living in Plymouth. 

"Here lyes the body of Mr. Francis Le Barran, phytician, 
who departed this life August ye i8th, 1704, in ye 36 year of 
his age." 

The above Francis LeBarran is the hero in the "Nameless 
Nobleman." 1 



328 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

"In memory of James Thacher, M. D., a surgeon in the army 
during the war of the Revolution ; afterwards for many years 
a practising physician in the county of Plymouth ; the author 
of several historical and scientific works ; esteemed of all men 
for piety and benevolence, public spirit and private kindness. 
Bom February 14, 1754. Died May 26, 1844." 

"Gen. James Warren died November 28, 1808, aged 82." 

General Warren succeeded Dr. Joseph Warren as President 
of Provincial Congress, and married Mercy, sister of the so- 
called patriot, James Otis. 

There are also on the hill stones at the heads of the graves 
of James H. Bugbee, pastor of the Universalist Society who 
died May 10, 1834, aged 31 years; of James Kendall, who died 
March 17, 1859, aged 89 years, after sixty years' service as 
pastor of the First Church ; of Ephriam Little, pastor of the 
First Church, who died Nov. 24, 1723, aged 47 years, two 
months and three days ; and of Chandler Robbins, pastor of 
the First Church, who died June 30, 1799, at the age of sixty- 
one. 

It may not be out of place to present to my readers by way 
of contrast with the foregoing somewhat sombre inscriptions a 
few of a quaint character to be found in grave yards in other 
towns. Omitting names of persons and places and dates, I 
give merely the inscriptions as follows : 

Accidentally shot, as a mark of affection by his brother. 

Beneath this stone our baby lays, 

He neither cries nor hollers. 
He lived just one and twenty days, 

And cost us forty dollars. 

She lived with her husband fifty years, and died in the confident 
hope of a better life. 

Under this stone lie three children dear ; 
Two are buried in Taunton, and one lies here. 

Here lies the body of Dr. Ransom, a man who never voted. Of 
such is the kingdom of heaven. 

Underneath this pile of stones 

Lies all that's left of Sally Jones. 

Her name was Lord; it was not Jones, 

But Jones is used to rhyme with stones. 

He did his damnedest. Angels can do no more. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 329 

Wife, I'm waiting for you. 
Husband, I'm here. 

Stranger pause and shed a tear, 

For Mary Jane lies buried here. 

Mingled in a most surprising manner 

With Susan, Maria, and portions of Hannah. 

My father and mother were both insane. 

I inherited the terrible stain. 

My grandfather, grandmother, aunts and uncles, 

Were lunatics all, and yet died of carbuncles. 

Within this grave do lie, 

Back to back my wife and I. 

When the last trump the air shall fill — 

If she gets up, I'll just lie still. 



33^ PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

During my youth, public entertainments were rare in Plym- 
outh, especially in the winter. During that season, with 
unlighted streets and the houses lighted for the most 
part with oil lamps, the town, more particularly in a storm of 
rain or snow was gloomy, indeed. Families gathered around 
their wood fires and here and there groups of men would sit 
on the counters and boxes in the stores until the nine o'clock 
bell called them home. When any of the housewives ventured 
to have a party, candles with their candlesticks and snuffers 
were brought out and scattered about the parlors on mantels 
and tables. Occasionally instead of a formal evening party 
a lap tea was the entertainment, the guests arriving at half 
past six or seven. Those lap teas were glorious times for us 
boys, for there was something exciting in the preparation. An 
extra supply of cream was to be bought, the sugar loaf was to 
be divested of its blue cartridge paper covering, and 
chopped into squares, and sandwiches and whips and custards 
were to be made, of which we were sure to get preliminary 
tastes. And better than all we were permitted to carry around 
waiters loaded with cups of tea and plates and cream and 
sugar, and the various articles of food. 

Music at these entertainments was uncommon. There were 
as long ago as about 1828 or 1830 only four pianos in town, 
and these were owned by Mrs. Pelham W. Warren, Mrs. Na- 
than Russell, Jr., Miss Eliza Ann Bartlett and my sister Re- 
becca. My sister's was given as part pay for a Chickering 
piano ; Miss Bartlett's was sold to Joseph Holmes of Kingston 
and is now owned by his granddaughter, Mrs. H. M. Jones of 
that town ; Mrs. Russell's is still owned by her daughter, Mrs. 
Wm. Hedge, and Mrs. Warren's went I know not where. The 
Russell piano is, as I remember the others were, of ma- 
hogany, ornamented with brass and with a scale of five and a 
half octaves. It was made by Alfred Babcock of Philadelphia, 
probably before 1825, for R. Mackey of Boston, who was not 
a manufacturer, but probably an agent for the maker. I say 
ihat it was probably made before 1825, because it is stated in 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 33I 

histories of piano making that Mr. Babcock invented in that 
year the iron string" board, which this one does not have. 

At a party in a house where either of the above pianos was 
owned, one of the guests, probably a visitor from Boston, 
favored the guests, by request, with a song. I recall one oc- 
casion when a lady was invited to sing who was unable to pro- 
nounce the letter "s." She unhesitatingly consented, and taking 
her seat at the piano sang the song beginning with the words, 
"Oh ting tweet bird, oh ting." Though more than sixty years 
have elapsed I am often reminded when I hear a lady sing at 
the piano of the polite invitation of that lady to the tweet bird 
to ting. 

Aside from the parties the entertainments were chiefly lec- 
tures by Rev. Chas. W. Upham on "Witchcraft ;" by Rev. Chas. 
T Brooks on, "Education in Germany," by Mr. Emerson on 
"Socrates;" or lectures by other prominent men; exhibitions 
of ledgerdemain by Potter or Harrington, or of a mummy 
which walked "in Thebes' streets three thousand years ago" ; 
or if nothing better offered an evening book auction. Oc- 
casionally a debating society would be formed of which Tim- 
othy Berry was always the organizer and patron, a man always 
ready to encourage the oratorical efforts of young men. I was 
permitted as a boy to attend the meetings of the society, and 
I remember the debaters well. As young as I was 
I could not help being amused at the seriousness with which 
the grandest subjects were attacked as if then and there their 
settlement depended on the merits of the debate. There was 
one gentleman who every evening, when the nine o'clock bell 
rang, rose impressively and said, "Mister President, many 
subjects not been teched on to-night, move we journ." The 
club accordingly adjourned, and the impressive gentleman left 
the hall, evidently feeling that he had been an active partici- 
pant in the debate. 

There was another society in my boyhood called the Plym- 
outh Madan Society, but from whom it derived its name I 
never knew. It was a musical society, and occasionally gave 
concerts. The nearest approximation to the name I ever knew 
until recently, was the Scripture name of Medan, the son of 
Abraham. But that was evidently a misfit. I next found 
among the proper names in the Century dictionary, that of 



2,2>^ PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Martin Madan, an English Methodist divine who pubUshed in 
1780 a book called Telyphthora, advocating polygamy. But 
as the Plymouth Madan Society gave concerts in the Univer- 
salist church, it is not probable that it was named in honor of 
a polygamist. Having since met with the name of Madan in 
the newspapers of a family in Marshfield, I wrote to Lot J. 
Madan, living at Green Harbor, asking him if any of his fam- 
ily in past generations, either his father or grandfather, had 
been musical. Mistaking my word musical for married, he 
replied that if his father and grandfather had not been mar- 
ried he would not have been around in these days. In a sub- 
sequent letter he said he played on the violin, and was as far 
as he knew the only musician in the family. For whom then 
the society was named is a question still unsolved. 

Among other societies within my day was one to aid in ar- 
resting horse thieves, and that was one of many formed in 
various towns. The only surviving one within my knowledge 
is in Dedham, which annually meets and elects its officers. I 
have already alluded in another chapter to a temperance so- 
ciety which was formed in 1832, by whose efforts more was 
done to promote temperance than by all other agencies com- 
bined from that time to this. The sale of intoxicating li- 
quors was almost completely stopped, the family use of wines 
was abandoned, and under the influence of Daniel Frost, whose 
addresses were largely attended, more than a thousand names 
v/ere secured to pledges to abstain from the use of ardent 
spirits. 

An Anti-slavery society I have also referred to which was 
formed in the Robinson church on the evening of the Fourth 
of July, 1835, and occupied for some years rooms in the sec- 
ond story of the northerly end of the building which up to 
1883 stood on the site of the Sherman block on the west side 
of Main street. The seed of anti-slavery fell in Plymouth on 
sandy soil, but watered by heavenly dew, it soon took root and 
broke through the conservative crust which under the influence 
of the commercial and financial interests of the town, for a 
time obstructed its growth. 

There was a peace society formed in 1831, but as we were 
then at peace with the world, there does not appear to have 
been at that time any special call for the organization. It 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 333 

seems to have been a fashion of the times to form peace so- 
cieties, but their influence was not sufficiently enduring to 
check the movements which resulted in the Mexican war not 
many years later. But it seems to be the way of our 
people to advocate peace in a time of peace, and v»'hen war 
threatens, to advocate war. The President of a Massachus- 
etts Sunday-school Association preached in peaceful years as 
a minister of the gospel peace on earth and good will among 
men, but in 1898 I saw him marching with the first battery in 
all the panoply of war to join the murderers of his fellow 
men. Another prominent minister of the gospel who, when no 
war clouds darkened the horizon, permitted himself without 
protest to be called the apostle of peace, was as dumb as an 
oyster when the opportunity came to utter trumpet-tongued his 
protests against the war. 

Bu it was not always so with the people of Plymouth. Ever 
after the close of the revolution they were advocates of peace, 
and when the war v.'ith Great Britain broke out in 181 2 they 
uttered in no uncertain language their determined protest. A 
memorial to the President denouncing the war was passed 
unanimously in town meeting, the closing words of which 
were as follows : "Thus sir, with much brevity, but with a 
frankness which the magnitude of the occasion demands, they 
have expressed their honest sentiments upon the existing of- 
fensive war against Great Britain, a war by which their dearest 
interests as men and Christians are deeply affected, and in 
which they deliberately declare, as they cannot conscientiously, 
so thev will not have any voluntary participation. They make 
this declaration with that paramount regard to their civil and 
religious obligations which becomes the disciples of the prince 
of peace whose kingdom is not of this world, and before 
whose impartial tribunal presidents and kings will be upon a 
level with the meanest of their fellowmen. and will be respon- 
sible for all the blood they shed in wanton and unnecessary 
war." 

My onlv comment on the above memorial is that milder 
language was flippantly denounced as treasonable by some of 
the advocates of the recent war with Spain. 

The various societies which I have thus far mentioned were 
temporary in their character, and had short careers. There 



334 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

were, however, two others formed in the first quarter of the 
last century, one charitable and the other historical, which have 
continued to this day, and having been incorporated, will con- 
tinue for an indefinite period. One of these, the Pilgrim So- 
ciety, will be noticed in a later chapter in connection with the 
celebrations of the anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims. 
The other, the Plymouth Fragment Society, having its origin 
and inspiration in the heart of a benevolent lady a native of a 
foreign land, with whom the ladies of Plymouth enthusiasti- 
cally co-operated, has year after year for nearly ninety years, by 
the kindly hands of each succeeding generation, dispensed 
among the suffering poor a charity which, dropping like the 
gentle rain from heaven, is twice blessed, for it blesseth him that 
gives, and him that takes. It was founded by Madame Marie 
de Verdier Turner on the 13th of February, 1818, for the 
declared purpose of "relieving the wants of the destitute poor." 
To meet legal requirements imposed by bequests to the So- 
iety, it was incorporated March 14, 1877, with a capital not 
estimated nor divided into shares. 

The officers of the Society since its organization have been as 
follows : Presidents, Mary Warren, Martha Russell, Joanna 
Davis, Betsey F. Russell, Margaret Warren, Sarah M. Holmes, 
Laura Russell, Martha Ann Morton, Caroline B. Warren, 
Esther Bartlett. Vice-presidents : Esther Parsons Hammatt, 
Betsey Torrey, Elizabeth Freeman, Lucretia B. Watson, Re- 
becca D. Parker, Mrs. Thomas, Sally Stephens, Mercy B. 
Lovell, Ellen M. Hubbard, Helen Russell. Secretaries : Betsey 
H. Hodge, Rebecca Bartlett, Elizabeth L. Loud, Abbv M. Hall, 
Helen Russell, Jennie S. Hubbard. Treasurers : Francis L. 
Jackson, Phebe Cotton, Mary Ann Stevenson, Eunice D. Rob- 
bins, Caroline E. Gilbert, Lydia G. Locke. Elizabeth W. 
Whitman. The amount expended in charity during the year 
ending October i, 1905, has been $883.93 ^^^ food, fuel and 
clothing, and $360 in payments of $2 a month to eleven regu- 
lar, and four special pensioners. 

So little is known by the present generation of Madame 
Turner, the founder of the Society, and of her romantic life 
that I present to my readers a short sketch of her career for the 
facts in which I am chiefly indebted to a paper read by Lois B. 
Brewster as a graduating exercise in 1899, at the Plymouth 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



335 



High school, the language of which I have in a measure adopt- 
ed: 

Mrs. Turner was a native of Sweden, born in Alalnio in 1789. 
Her father was a retired officer in the Hussars, an accomplish- 
ed gentleman, and her mother was connected with noble fami- 
lies from whom she inherited the prejudices of the aristocracy. 
She received an education which beside the ordinary branches 
taught in the schools, included music, embroidery and painting. 
Her father died when she was fifteen years of age, leaving her 
mother with only a little more than a government pension for 
her support. After removing with her family to Copenhagen, 
IMadame de Verdier soon after died, never having recovered 
from the shock caused by the death of her husband. Marie 
became an inmate of the home of a rich merchant, who provid- 
ed her with every luxury, and in whose house she often met 
guests of the merchant from foreign lands. Among these 
guests at dinner one day were Captain Robinson, an English- 
man, and Captain Lothrop Turner of Plymouth, ship masters, 
whose ships were consigned to their host. It is needless 
to say that the handsome Captain Turner and the pretty 
Swedish maid fell deeply in love with each other before his 
ship was ready to leave, but as she could speak no English, and 
Swedish was to him an unknown tongue, their language of love 
was carried on by the tell tale eye and blushing cheek, except 
when Robinson lent his services as an interpreter. Ma- 
rie, against the advice of her friends, yielded to the influence 
of her own head, and acceg^ting his hand in marriage, the hus- 
band and wife after a marriage solemnized in April, 181 2, sail- 
ed for her new home in New England. It was during the war 
of 181 2, and in entering Massachusetts Bay, Capt. Turner bare- 
ly escaped capture by an English frigate patrolling the coast, 
but finally reached Plymouth. The story of the romantic mar- 
riage had reached Plymouth before them, and on the day of 
their arrival the young friends of the captain were gathered 
to give a cordial welcome to his Swedish bride. Long before 
the arrival of the stage bearing them was due, numbers 
of women and children anxious to see the bride gathered on 
Cole's Hill, and from that vantage ground saw the blue-eyed, 
golden haired little woman as she dismounted and entered 
the house of Capt. Turner's father, which stood near the foot. 



336 ]'LYMOUTH MEMORIES 

and on the South side of Leyden street. It was a trying 
season for her among new friends whom she had never seen, 
imperfect in the use of the EngUsh tongue, and amid scenes 
to which she must become accustomed, as those of home. 
Not long after her arrival a daughter Maria was bom, who 
died in infancy. 

It now became her task to learn the language which she 
must make her own, but she was an apt scholar, and bravely 
and speedily fought her way through its intricate words and 
phrases. As she became acquainted with Plymouth people 
she was surprised that the pupils in school were not taught to 
paint and embroider, and as two sisters of her husband were 
teaching a private school she engaged in the instruction of their 
pupils in those accomplishments. She also formed classes of 
girls, and taught them music, besides painting and needlework. 
In her visits among the sick she came to realize the needy con- 
dition of many families suffering from the effects of the em- 
bargo, which were added to the sad conditions of the revolu- 
tion from which they had not yet recovered. Throughout the 
early years of her life in Plymouth, she worked with zeal in 
enlisting the aid and sympathy of those in comfortable circum- 
stances in charitable work, and while engaged Dersonally in 
visits among the poor she conceived the idea of associated work 
in aid of the sick and destitute. 

Her husband died in Havana, April 28, 1824, and she was 
left with little means of support, except that derived from 
her own labors. Friends in Boston offered her aid which she 
refused, believing it inconsistent with the character of a true 
American to accept assistance while able to support herself. 

She opened a school in the house of a friend on Fort Hill in 
Boston, but after a short time felt a longing to return to her 
native land, and sailed for Sweden in a vessel owned by Capt. 
John Russell. She found, however, her country not as she 
had left it, rich and moral, but a decaying monarchv, its people 
intemperate, and without the political freedom enjoved in 
America. She lived for a time in Stockholm as a friend of 
Countess Person, and there received an advantageous offer of 
marriage, which she declined, saying, "I have been the wife of 
a free citizen, I will not lower myself by marrying a subject." 
One day while riding with the Countess, she saw a ship flying 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 337 

an American flag, and exclaiming — "See the stars — see the 
stars," told the Countess that she must return in that ship to 
her adopted country. And this she did, declaring that she 
preferred a home of poverty in a free country to an abode of 
luxury under a monarchy. 

Arriving in Boston in delicate health, with symptoms of pul- 
monary disease, after a season of suffering, she removed to 
New York, hearing of a place there where she could teach. Her 
disease, however, increasing, she went south, where she spent 
two years with friends, engaged in finishing a translation of 
"Waldermar, the Victorious," from the Danish of Ingerman, 
which she had begun while on her last voyage. 

She had previously published with great success a work on 
"Drawing and Shadowing Flowers," with lithographic plates, 
executed by herself, and "The Young Ladies' Assistant in 
Drawing and Painting," and several stories for magazines. She 
returned to Boston in 1837, with the hope of continuing literary 
work, but her disease increasing, she was obliged to abandon 
the publication of her book, and told her friends that if it should 
be published after her death, she hoped that a sketch of her life 
might be prefixed, for she "believed that it would make the 
women of America more sensible of the inestimable value of 
their free institutions ; more thankful for their religious privi- 
leges, and more American, when they read her story. I would 
do something for the country where I have found a Saviour for 
my soul, where I have had a home, and where I shall have a 
grave." She died at the Massachusetts General Hospital, 
March 15, 1838, and her body was removed to Plymouth and 
buried in Oak Gro\ e cemetery. Her life and work should be 
remembered by something more enduring than an occasional 
allusion, and I suggest that a stone be erected over her grave 
with something like the following inscription : 

This stone is erected by the Plymouth 
Fragment Society in memory of its 
founder, Marie de Verdier Turner, a na- 
tive of Sweden, who was born in Malmo, 
in 1789, and died in Boston, IMarch 15, 

1838. 

And Christ said: "Inasmuch as ye 

have done it unto one of the least of 

these, ye have done it unto me." 



33^ PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

I have said in an early chapter that after having: attended 
Ma'am Weston's school on North street, Mrs. Maynard's in the 
second story room in the building on the corner of Main street 
and Town Square, and Mr. George P. Bradford's school in a 
second story room on the opposite corner of Main street, I en- 
tered the high school in 1832. The high school house was 
situated on the north side of the Unitarian church between 
School street and the town tombs, and was a one story building 
about forty-five feet long and twenty or twenty-five feet wide, 
with a door on the southerly end. 

The situation of the house recalls these lines of Whittier : 

"The town ne'er heeds the sceptic's hands, 
While near her school the church tower stands ; 
Nor fears the bigot's blinding rule, 
While near the church tower stands the school." 

Standing on sloping ground the foundation of the house on 
the street side was high enough to admit of a cellar above the 
street level. In the northerly end of the school room there 
was a platform, two steps above the main floor, with the teach- 
er's area in the centre flanked on each side by three unpainted 
pine desks with lids, and with long seats to correspond, facing 
the area. An alley led from the door to the platform with a 
row of desks and seats on each side, the row on the east side be- 
ing broken by a space for a box stove for burning wood, the 
only fuel at that time used. 

The house was built in 1770, and until 1826 was called the 
central or grammar school, but in that year it received the name 
of high school. It had a belfry on its southerly end, and a bell 
with the rope coming down into a cross entry between the out- 
er door and the schoolroom. When the house was taken for an 
engine house the bell was placed on the Russell street school 
house, and when during some repairs, it was removed from that 
building and abandoned, I captured it for Pilgrim Hall, where 
it now is. The first bells, as large as this one, made in the 
United States, were cast in Abington by Aaron Hobart in 1769, 
under the direction of a deserter from the British Army, named 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



339 



Gallimore, a bell founder by trade. There can be little doubt 
that the bell in question was made by Mr. Hobart in 1769. It 
is not altogether gratifying that, with other customs of the past, 
the ringing of bells should be falling into disuetude. The 
Court bell no longer calls the liar to come to Court, the school 
bell is silent, the funeral bell is not heard, even the fire 
bell is giving way to the electric alarm, and I fear that 
the church bell will be the next to fall asleep under the sop- 
orific influence of fashion. But I trust that the day is far 
distant when the sweet voice of the Sunday bell shall become 
mute. Years ago when Julian, the great French composer of 
instrumental music was in the habit of bringing out his new 
pieces for the year, he played them for the first time at the se- 
ries of mask balls, beginning each year at Christmas. I had 
been in Paris six months without hearing the church bell ring- 
ing its summons to service, and I have never forgotten the 
emotions stirred within me when I heard at the first ball in the 
series, sixty years ago, the piece entitled "la dimanche au son- 
neur," the Sunday bells. The first time I saw the "Angelus" 
by Millet, the same emotions were revived, and the music of 
"la dimanche an sonneur" is still ringing in my ears. 

While talking of bells, I wonder how many of my readers 
know how far church bells can be heard. I read a few years 
ago an article in the Living Age on the rut of the sea, or as it 
is better known, the roar of the ocean, which many persons 
think is caused by the surf on the shore after a storm. I dis- 
covered many years ago that this was not so, as I had often 
heard it when there was no storm, and when there was scarcely 
a ripple on the beach. The article referred to stated that the 
rut was the sound of a distant storm, perhaps hundreds of 
miles away, and illustrated the distance at which sounds can be 
heard at sea by the following incident. A ship bound into 
New York one Sunday forenoon was sailing close hauled on 
the wind on the starboard tack about eighty miles dead to lee- 
ward from Sandy Hook. The mate reported to the Captain 
that he could hear the New York church bells. The captain 
doubting it, went on deck and heard them distinctly. Putting 
his ship into the wind, and thus shivering her light sails, he lost 
the sound, but putting her oflf again the bells continued to be 
heard. The sound of the bells reached the upper sails, and 



340 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

was reflected to the deck. I was prepared to credit the 
story, because I have been told by grand bank fishermen that 
in old side wheel days they had heard the paddles of an ocean 
steamer twelve miles away. 

Returning from this digression, let me say that in 1832 I 
presented myself at the office of Dr. Winslow Warren, on the 
comer of Main and North streets, chairman of the school com- 
mittee, to be examined for admission into the high school. The 
requirements were at that time, an age of ten years, an ability 
to read well and spell, to write a fair round hand, a knowledge 
of Colburn's first lessons, and Robinson's arithmetic as far as 
vulgar fractions, and ability to parse a simple sentence. I had 
at that time not only gone beyond the requirements in my stud- 
ies, but had made a considerable advance in Latin. When I 
entered the school it was kept by Samuel Ripley Townsend. 
When he flogged a boy he did it neither in sorrow nor in anger, 
but rather for the quiet fun it gave him. He wore spectacles, 
and had a way of walking leisurely up the alley as if his 
thoughts were far away from the school, and if any boy after 
he had passed made a face behind his back, or threw a spit ball 
at another boy, he would see the reflection in his spectacles, and 
then going quietly to his desk, and taking out his cowhide, 
would walk back apparently in an absent mood, and when he 
walked by the boy he would bring the hide down smartly on his 
back, and keep on his walk with an ill concealed smile on his 
face as if he had played a joke on the offender. 

Mr. Townsend, son of Samuel and Abigail Townsend, was 
born in Waltham, April 10, 18 10, and graduated at Harvard in 
1829. After leaving Plymouth he engaged in business in Bos- 
ton for a time, and afterwards taught the Bristol Academy 
from 1846 to 1849, during which period he studied law with 
Horatio Pratt, and was admitted to the Bristol bar in 1850. In 
1853 he was chosen treasurer of Bristol County, serving three 
years, and in 1858 was appointed Judge of the Police Court of 
Taunton. After the dissolution of the court he practiced law 
in Taunton, serving three terms as a member of the city coun- 
cil, and in 1882 was appointed City Solicitor. He married 
June 29, 1837, Mary Snow Percival, and died September 27, 
1887. 

In 1833 Mr. Townsend was succeeded by Isaac Nelson Stod- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 34I 

dard, born in Upton, October 30, 181 2, who graduated at Am- 
herst in 1832. He taught the school about two years, and then 
moved to New Bedford, where he taught until 1837, when he 
returned to Plymouth, and again had charge of the school until 
1841. In the latter year he was appointed collector of the 
port, remaining in office until 1845, when he was made cashier 
of the Plymouth Bank, continuing in office in that and its 
successor, the Plymouth National Bank, until 1879, when he 
was made president. He married in 1836, Martha Le Baron, 
daughter of John B. Thomas, and died July 23, 1891. He 
fitted John Goddard Jackson and myself for college during the 
first half of 1838, when we carried on our studies at home, 
and went to Mr. Stoddard's house late each afternoon to recite. 
While in New Bedford Mr. Stoddard became an intimate 
friend of Judge Oliver Prescott, Judge of Probate of Bristol 
county, and hence the name of our genial friend. Col. Stod- 
dard. The ordinary punishment to which the boys were sub- 
jected by Mr. Stoddard, was a squeeze of the ear between his 
thumb and forefinger, but the punishment for high offences was 
a flogging on the soft parts, while the victim lay across a chair. 
Some of my readers will doubtless remember Bill Randall, and 
the jolly way in which he did everything. One day knowing 
that Mr. Stoddard intended to flog him, he went to school pre- 
pared for the occasion. When he was called out and told to 
lie down he exhibited a protuberance never equalled by any 
bustle of the dressmaker's art, and as he took the blows which 
might as well have been inflicted on a bale of wool, he would 
wink to the other scholars as much as to say, "go ahead old fel- 
low if you enjoy it, go ahead." Bill went to California, and 
on a visit to Plymouth a few years ago he was the same old 
Bill, and if he be living and sees these memories, he will have a 
laugh over the flogging incident. 

During Mr. Stoddard's absence in New Bedford the first 
teacher was Leonard Bliss of Rehoboth, a scholarly man, who 
published a history of Rehoboth, a valuable contribution to his- 
torical literature. After leaving Plymouth he went to Louis- 
ville, Ky., and edited the Louisville Journal. For some of- 
fensive remarks in the colunms of his paper, he was shot dead 
in his office. He was a son of Leonard and Lydia (Talbot) 
Bliss, and was born in Swanzey, December 12, 181 1. 



342 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Wm. H. Lord succeeded Mr. Bliss, a native of Portsmouth, 
born September lo, 1812, and a graduate at Dartmouth in 1832. 
He graduated at Andover Academy in 1837, and was settled 
for a time over the Unitarian Societies of Southboro, Mass., 
and Madison, Wisconsin. At one time he edited a news- 
paper in Port Washington, and was Consul at St. Thomas 
from 1850 to 1853. He married Persis, daughter of Rev. Dr. 
James Kendall, and died in Washington in 1866. He was a 
popular teacher, and introduced a new feature into school 
government, which proved successful. At the opening day of 
his term he told his scholars that they might have the afternoon 
of that day to themselves in the school room for the purpose of 
enacting a code of rules for the management of the school, and 
reporting the same to him the next day, but he wished them to 
distinctly understand that when enacted, the rules were to be 
obeyed. It requires no deep knowledge of human nature to 
know that such a confidence in the good faith of the school 
would be conscientiously respected. I do not remember a 
single case of flogging under his administration. 

Before the return of Mr. Stoddard to Plymouth in 1837 the 
school was kept a short time by Robert Bartlett of Plymouth 
of the Harvard class of 1836, and by LeBaron Russell of the 
Harvard class of 1832, but nothing occurred during their 
terms, especially worthy of notice, except the pranks usual in 
every school. One of these pranks was tried on each teacher 
in turn. In the cool days of autumn or spring, the fire in the 
box stove was not kept up continuously, so some morning when 
there was no fire, a bundle of seaweed was rammed down the 
chimney, and soon after the school opened the boys began one 
after another to shiver and ask for a fire. Of course, when 
the fire was kindled, the room would fill with smoke, and the 
usual result, the dismissal of the school, followed. There 
were no janitors in those days, and each Saturday two boys 
would be detailed to discharge during the next week a jan- 
itor's duties, including sweeping out, sawing wood, making 
fires and ringing the bell. I do not think such work ever did 
me any harm, indeed, I am sure that it taught me as much 
that was useful as is taught today in some branches of in- 
struction included in the regular curriculum, for which special 
salaried teachers are employed. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 343 

A school called the town school, was kept in my day by 
Thomas Drew in a house built in 1827, which has been recent- 
ly taken down. It stood also on School street, near the way 
up Burial Hill, a little distance south of the high school house. 
The boys attending that school were older and larger than the 
high school boys, and when there was snow on the ground 
there was scarcely a day without a pitched battle between the 
two schools. During my time our leader was Abraham Jack- 
son, always cool and fearless, and generally leading his fol- 
lowers to victory, and driving the enemy into their school. 
He entered Harvard a year before I did, and on the Delta he 
was the same hero in the strife that he was on Burial Hill 
at home. More than once I have seen him there with ball in 
hand rushing through the crowd with an impetus which no ob- 
stacle could check, and heard the cry, "go it Jackson, go it 
Jackson," and then a cheer when he sent the ball home. I 
can conceive of no danger from which Jackson would have re- 
treated, and of no act of daring which he would not if neces- 
sary have performed. He once saved a boy from drowning, 
who had ventured on thin ice in the middle of Murdock's pond 
and fallen through. While other boys were paralyzed with 
fear he kept his presence of mind, and did just the right thing. 
There was a pile of rails on the shore, and seizing two he drag- 
ged them side by side near the broken ice, and then lying down 
on them worked his way with his weight distributed over as 
much surface as possible, to the boy, and taking him by the 
collar, pulled liim to the rails and to safety. He was always 
a hero, and in war would have been a Gushing in Roanoke 
river or a Hobson at Santiago. 

A fuller history of Plymouth schools than I propose to give 
in these memories, may be found in my Ancient Landmarks 
of Plymouth, and I must content myself with saying that 
after the school became the high school in 1826. the teachers, 
omitting those already mentioned, were Addison Brown, 
Harvard, 1826, George W. Hosmer, Harvard, 1826, who mar- 
ried Hannah Poor, daughter of Rev. James Kendall, Horace 
Hall Rolfe, born in Groton, N. H., July 20, 1800, graduated 
at Dartmouth, 1824, married, 1828, Mary T., daughter of 
Stephen Marcy, and died in Charleston, S. C., February 24, 
183 1, Josiah Moore, Harvard, 1826, who married in 183 1, 



344 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Rebecca W., daughter of Wm. Sturtevant, Charles Clapp, Mr. 
Jenks, PhiHp Coombs Knapp, Dartmouth, 1841, John Brooks 
Beal, Thomas Andrew Watson, Harvard, 1845, Samuel Se- 
wall Greeley, Harvard, 1844, Wm. H. Spear, J. W. Hunt, 
Frank Crosby, Edward P. Bates, Admiral P. Stone, George 
Lewis Baxter, Theodore P. Adams, Harvard, 1867, Joseph 
Leavitt Sanborn, Harvard, 1867, Henry Dame, George Wash- 
ington Minns, Harvard, 1836, Gilman C. Fisher, and Charles 
Burton, who was succeeded by teachers with whose names 
my readers are familiar. 

There are two of the above of whom I am able to furnish 
meagre sketches. Charles Burton, son of Thomas and Eliza- 
beth (Deane) Burton, was bom in Wolverhampton, England, 
December 16, 1816, and about 1818 came to America with 
his widowed mother and one brother and four sisters, and set- 
tled in Pittsburgh, where in early life he learned the trade of 
pattern maker. In Pittsburgh he became acquainted with 
Lemuel Stephens, who was instructor there in Daniel Stone's 
private school, and about 1839 sailed with him for Germany 
in a vessel belonging to 1. and E. Morton. After a year's 
study in Gottingen and Heidelberg, he returned home, and 
soon after came to Plymouth with messages from Mr. Steph- 
ens, whose sister Sarah he afterwards married. He taught 
first a private school on Watson's Hill in a building erected 
for the purpose, and for many years afterwards was associated 
with the public schools of Plymouth, either as principal of the 
high school or as superintendent of schools. He died No- 
vember 25, 1894. 

George Lewis Baxter, son of William W. and Ann E. 
(Weld) Baxter, was born in Quincy, Oct. 21, 1842, and gradu- 
ated at Harvard in 1863. In 1864 he was principal of the 
Reading High School, and afterwards for three years princi- 
pal of the high school in Plymouth. In 1867 he was appoint- 
ed headmaster of the Somerville high school, in which 
capacity he is still serving with about four hundred and thirty 
scholars under his charge. In 1872 he married Ida F. Paul, 
and has a son, Gregorv Paul Baxter, who graduated at Har- 
vard in 1896. 

I entered college at sixteen, the usual age at that time, while 
now it is eighteen. There are persons who believe that every- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 345 

thing is lovely in our day, and that our fathers were unedu- 
cated, ignorant men. They claim that our public schools are 
more efficient in instruction, and their pupils further advanced 
than formerly. This I doubt. I began to study Latin at nine, 
and I have no reasons to think that I was an exception. They 
explain the advanced age of freshmen, by claiming- that the 
requirements for admission to college are greater, and this 
claim I also doubt. They further claim that a higher scholar- 
ship is reached by the graduate of the present time. But to 
substantiate this claim, they should show first that the old in- 
structors were inferior to the present, and second that the vari- 
ous activities of life are now represented by abler men than 
ever before. But are Professor Felton in Greek, Profes- 
sor Beck in Latin, Professor Channing in Rhetoric and 
Elocution, Professor Pierce in Mathematics, and Profes- 
sor Longfellow in French, outclassed by recent professors? 
Then if we turn to the various p-rofessions we find among the 
graduates of the earlier half of the last century in the minis- 
try, Wm. EUery Channing, James Walker, Frederick Hedge, 
George Putnam, Wm. P. Lunt, Henry W. Bellows, and Ed- 
ward Everett Hale ; in law, Samuel Dexter, Lemuel Shaw, 
Sidney Bartlett, Benjamin Robbins Curtis and William Whit- 
ing ; in literature, Wm. H. Prescott, George Bancroft. Jared 
vSparks, Francis Parkman, J. Lothrop Motley, James Russell 
Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes ; in medicine, John Collins 
Warren, Henry Bigelow and George H. Gay, and in states- 
manship, John Ouincy Adams, Josiah Quincy, Harrison Gray 
Otis, Edward Everett, Charles Sumner and George F. Hoar ; 
in science, Benjamin Pierce, Asa Gray and B. A. Gould. Is 
a comparison wath recent graduates unfavorable to these men? 
I was told not many years ago by a distinguished scholar, a 
graduate of Harvard, and one of its professors, that in his 
opinion Harvard did not graduate as good scholars as it did 
fifty years before. If this be true, I think there is a reason 
for it. Many persons mistake bigness for greatness, but I 
believe that sixteen hundred undergraduates cannot be mould- 
ed as well as four hundred. There is not that personal inter- 
est felt in the student by the instructors, which was once 
felt. I am inclined to doubt whether in the faculty today 
there is more than one member able to recognize and call by 



346 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

name fifty students. In my day it was different, and to apply 
the reductio ad absurduni, there was Charles Stearns Wheeler, 
Greek tutor, the Pinkerton of the faculty, who boasted that 
if day or night he could see the heel of a student going- round 
a corner he could give his name — ex pede hercnlem. Only 
a few incidents in my college career are worthy of mentioning. 
I think I am one of very few students whose pardon has ever 
been asked by a professor. One day while solving a prob- 
lem in geometry before Professor Pierce, or Benny, as we called 
him, and performing my work with ease and rapidity, he stop- 
ped me suddenly and sent me to my seat, telling me to begin 
at the next recitation at the beginning of the text book, 
which we were then half through. At the next recitation 
he called me to the blackboard and asked me how far I 
was prepared. I told him, "Up with the class," and then 
he began to screw me, giving me three problems in differ- 
ent places in the book, which I solved with ease. He 
then said, "Take your seat, and remain after the class leaves 
the room." When we were alone he said, "Davis, I thought 
you were copying at the last recitation, but I am satisfied that 
you were not, and I beg your pardon." The students some- 
times marked difficult points in the problems on their cuffs, and 
sometimes on a slip of paper, and the professor seeing me do- 
ing my work so glibly, thought I had an auxiliary somewhere 
about my person. He never alluded to the matter again, but 
he manifested his regret by inviting me very frequently to 
spend a part of a night with him, or his assistant in the ob- 
servatory to aid in recording magnetic or astronomical obser- 
vations. 

No professor was miore interesting to me than Edward Tir- 
rell Channing, at the head of the department of rhetoric and 
elocution. I think he made a deeper and broader mark on 
the undergraduate mind than has been felt since his day. His 
custom was to take up the themes, which he had examined, 
and criticise them before the class. On one occasion, taking 
up mine he said, "Davis, I have only one thing to say to you, 
when you have written anything which you think particu- 
larly fine, strike it out." A member of my class published a 
book of poems during his college course entitled, "Pebbles 
from Castalia," which we boys called, "Brickbats from Ken- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 347 

nebunk." On one occasion he wrote a theme in verse, and 
Channino- taking it up said, "Mr. Blank, I see that in your 
theme every line begins with a capital, what is the reason?" 
"It is poetry, sir." "Ah, poetr>', is it, I did not think of that, 
but hereafter, leave out some of your capitals." 

In my day there were five degrees of punishment : expul- 
sion, suspension, public admonition before the faculty, private 
admonition by the president, and mild censure by the pro- 
fessor, who had a room in college. There was a race course 
a little more than a mile from the college which the boys often 
attended to see trotting races under the saddle. One rider 
was easy and graceful in riding jockey hitch. At one time 
I was called before Professor Loverinp- who held the position 
above referred to. and told by him that I was reported for 
attending the race on the Wednesday before. I said, "Yes, I 
was there, and saw you there." "Well, how do you like 
jockey hitch," he asked, and after we had exchanged our 
views on that style of riding, he bade me good morning. This 
mild censure reminds me of a story told of Professor Felton, 
one of whose brothers, some twenty years younger than him- 
self, was an undergraduate, and was reported for swearing 
in the college yard. The faculty requested the professor to 
speak to his brother, so sending a messenger for him to come 
to his recitation room he told him that he had been reported 
as above mentioned. "Yes," his brother said, "I plead guilty, 
but I do not often indulge in profanity." "Damnation, John, 
what do you mean by using the word profanity. There is 
no such word ; profaneness, John, profaneness, not profanity — 
you may go." 

Josiah Ouincy, born in Boston, Feb. 4, 1772, a Harvard 
graduate of 1790, was president during my term. He had 
occupied the positions of member of congress, state senator, 
mayor of Boston, and Judge of the Boston Municipal Court, 
when he was chosen president in 1829, serving until 1845. He 
was sixty-six years of age, when I entered college, but appear- 
ed much older. He bore the reputation of being absent 
minded, but though many of the stories illustrating this men- 
tal condition, are probably untrue, an instance of it once oc- 
curred under my own eye and ear. He and Hon. Tyler 
Bigelow, the father of Chief Justice Geo. Tyler Bigelow, were 



348 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

intimate friends, and their families were also intimate. Meet- 
ing one day in the waiting room of the Old Colony station 
some years after the death of Mr. Bigelow's wife, Mr. Quincy 
asked him how Mrs. Bigelow was. Putting his hand to his 
ear, as he was very deaf, Mr. Bigelow said, "What did you 
say?" Mr. Quincy raising his voice said, "How is Mrs. 
Bigelow." Mr. Bigelow said, "Speak louder," and Mr. 
Quincy called out in his loudest voice, attracting the attention 
of every one in the room, "How is Mrs. Bigelow." "Dead, 
dead," said Mr. Bigelow, much to the amusement of the crowd. 
Mr. Quincy was a noble man. He loved Boston, and was 
devoted to its interests. The city owned what was called city 
wharf, opposite the Quincy Market, and when he was about 
eighty years of age the city government voted to sell it by 
auction. Mr. Quincy protested publicly against the sale of 
property which in his judgment would appreciate largely in 
value in the near future. No attention was paid to his pro- 
test, and the sale went on. He bought it, and then offered 
it to the city at the price he paid, but his offer was refused. 
T have heard his profits on the purchase put as high as a half 
a million of dollars. He died in Quincy, July i, 1864, at 
the age of ninety-two. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 349 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

As has been already stated, in the early days of the Plym- 
outh Colony, town meetings v/ere held in either the (jovernor's 
house, or the meeting house. The last meeting in the meet- 
ing house, so far as the lecord shows, was held July 6, 1685. 
Tn that year Plymouth County was incorporated with Plym- 
outh, the shire, and though I can find no record of the event, 
it is probable that the County Court house, which stood on the 
site of the present town house, was built in that year, and 
that from that time it was the meeting place of the town. 
There are scattering records of town m-eetings held there be- 
fore it was taken down in 1749, in which year the present 
town house was built by the county as a Court House. In 
anticipation of the erection of the present house it was voted by 
the town at a meeting held in the Court House, Oct. 10, 1748, 
"to give towards building a new house three hundred pounds 
old tenor, provided that the town shall have free use and im- 
provement of the said building, as long as it stands, to trans- 
act any of the public affairs of the town in." On the 6th of 
March, 1749, it was voted "that the town will add to their 
former vote for building a Court House, the sum of seven 
hundred pounds old tenor . provided that the Court of Gen- 
eral sessions for this county at its next sessions shall order 
that the said Court House shall immediately be built, and that 
the town have the privilege of transacting their public affairs 
in the same so long as the said house shall stand." 

At the next session of the court it was voted to accept the 
additional grant and a copy of the vote was attested by Ed- 
ward Winslow, clerk. 

In order that my readers may understand the meaning of 
old tenor money, let me say, that there were three issues of 
paper money by the Massachusetts province prior to 1750- 
The issues prior to 1737 were called old tenor, the issue made 
in that year was called middle tenor, and the issue of 1741, 
new tenor. When the ])rovince bills were redeemed in 1750, 
the old tenor was redeemed at the rate of one piece of a dol- 
lar for forty-five shillings of old tenor, which would make the 



350 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

amount paid to the county a fraction over $444.44. This 
sum it must be remembered was in addition to the snare of the 
cost of the building to be assessed on the town in its county 
tax. 

In 1749, then, the present town house, was erected. A 
somewhat doubtful tradition ascribes its design to Peter Oliver, 
who in 1.747 was appointed Judge of the Inferior Court of 
Plymouth County ; and a still more doubtful tradition states 
that originally its entrance was on. the easterly end and was 
changed about 1786 to the north side, where it is now. Af- 
ter a careful examination of the latter tradition, I have reached 
the conclusion that it is erroneous. A market was established 
as early as 1722, and for more than a hundred years clerks 
of the market were annually chosen by the town. Having 
examined every land title from Wellingsley to Cold Spring, 
and found no mention of a market anywhere except under 
the town house, I am satisfied that the basement of both the 
old and new building contained a market from 1722 to the 
time of its comparatively recent abandonment in 1858. The 
tradition therefore concerning the change of the entrance to 
admit of the establishment of a market probably refers, not 
to the present building, but to the old one in which a change 
of plan may have been made to admit of the establishment 
of a market in 1722. There is no reason to doubt the state- 
ment that at one time there was a one story wooden projec- 
tion as far out as the sidewalk to furnish larger accommoda- 
tions for the market, but it was removed before my day, and 
the market was confined to the basement alone. The market 
in my day was equipped with stalls, which were leased by the 
clerk of the market to various persons, among whom I remem- 
ber Elisha and Charles Nelson, Amasa Holmes, Joseph White, 
Brackley Cushing and Maltiah Howard. The interior ar- 
rangement of the town house was much the same as now, ex- 
cept that a safe has in later times been built, and the old Court 
room occupied the whole of the second story. The Court 
room was provided with a raised desk for the judge, a desk 
below for the clerk, a sheriff's box on one side, a court crier's 
box on the other, the jury seats facing the judge, and separat- 
ing the lawyer's area from the space for the public in the rear. 
Such was the arrantjement of the buildinsr until 1820, when a 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN, 35I 

new Court House having been built in Court Square, the 
building- was sold to the town for the sum of two thousand 
dollars. It remained practically unchanged until 1829, when 
the Torrent No. 4, a suction hose engine was bought, and the 
room at the westerly end was fitted for its accommodation. 
For the supply of water to this engine, and the Niagara No. i, 
which was at the same time changed to a suction engine, res- 
ervoirs were built in Shirley and Town Squares to be filled 
by the aqueduct. The specifications for these reservoirs re- 
quired them to be sixteen feet in diameter in the clear, and 
fourteen feet deep from the spring of the arch. To complete 
the story of the reservoirs, that on Training Green was built 
in 1834, that at the crossing of High and Spring streets, and 
that opposite Pilgrim Hall in 1853, and one at the foot of Rus- 
sell street at an earlier period. 

All through my boyhood the Town House remained as I 
have described it until 1839, when all the equipments of the 
old Court room except the judge's desk were removed and 
substantial seats were built on a sloping floor, which necessi- 
tated three more steps on the stairs. In 1858, while I was 
chairman of the selectmen, the engine Torrent was removed 
to the basement, and the room and ante-room, recently occupied 
by the selectmen, were fitted for use by the board. As first 
arranged, a large, round table with five drawers was con- 
structed around an iron column in the room, which was re- 
moved some years later. The hall above was used for meet- 
ings of the town until 1872, since which time they have been 
held in Davis Hall and Odd Fellows' Hall, and the Armory. 
At a later date it was occupied by the Public Library for a 
^hort time, and then divided into rooms, one of which was 
occupied until recently by the school committee, and the other 
is now occupied bv the Assessors. It may be interesting to 
some of my readers to learn that Catholic mass was celebrated 
in Town Hall, April 4, 1849. 

While this book is in press, the selectmen have remodelled 
the interior and built a new and larger safe. 

My first connection with town afifairs began in 1854, when 
I was chosen a member of the school committee. I had the 
previous year become a permanent resident of Plymouth, after 
some vears residence in Boston, and until 1892, a period of 



352 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

thirty-eight years, I do not recall a year in which I did not 
hold a town office. In 1855 I was chosen a selectman with 
Jacob H. Loud, chairman, and Ezekial C. Turner, Israel Clark 
and Ezra Leach, my other associates. In 1856 I was chair- 
man, associated with Joseph Allen, Joseph P. Brown, Brad- 
ford Barnes and David Clark, and 1857-8-9, the board re- 
mained unchanged. In i860 I remained chairman with Joseph 
P. Brown, Ezekial C. Turner, David Clark and Thomas B. 
Sears my associates, and in 1861 my associates were Ly- 
sander Dunham, Hosea Bartlett, Thomas B. Sears and 
Ezekial C. Turner, the same board continuing in office 
imtil the spring of 1866, when I declined further service. 
I was again chosen in 1870 and 1881, but declined serv- 
ing, and was finally chosen in 1888, '89, '90, serving the last 
year as chairman. At regular, adjourned and special meetings, 
and November elections, I served as moderator seventy-nine 
times. 

During my first service as moderator, the men who took the 
most active part in discussions were Moses Bates, Wm. H. 
Spear, Ichabod Morton, Charles G. Davis, Wm. H. Whitman, 
Captain John Russell, Jonathan Thrasher, Nathaniel Ellis, 
Charles H. Rowland, Barnabas H. Holmes, Samuel H. Doten 
and Chas. O. Churchill. Occasionally the debates were spirit- 
ed and personal. Some of the above were remarkable men. 
Jonathan Thrasher born and brought up, and a life-long resi- 
dent, at Long Pond, denied favorable opportunities of instruc- 
tion, was a man of large brain, who under the sunlight of a 
higher education, would have been a formidable competitor in 
the arena of professional life. When he spoke he at once 
arrested attention by his calm and judicial manner, and well 
expressed arguments, which were the resvilt of careful thought. 
Nathaniel Ellis of Ellisville, was also a man of mark, vig- 
orous in mind and body, ready in speech, and at every oppor- 
tunity keen in ridicule and satire. I remember the roars of 
laughter, elicited by his speech in opposition to an addition- 
al appropriation asked for by a school committee, in whom 
he had no confidence. He described one of their junkets, 
hiring a two horse carriage, stowing under the seats lemons 
and sugar and sandwiches and cold chicken and pickles, and 
the purpose of their service in behalf of the town, the convey- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



353 



ance of an inkstand to the Ellisville school of four scholars. He 
said it was the same committee which went on a similar iunket 
to examine the Red Brook School, and learned from the teach- 
er after their erudite examination was finished that Red Brook 
school was in Sandwich, and not in Plymouth. It is needless 
to say that the additional appropriation was defeated. Ichabod 
Morton on every question relating to schools was conspicuous 
in debate. He was an ardent advocate for larger appropriations 
for public schools, and though often subjected to ridicule by 
his opponents, he never lost his temper and waited patiently 
for time to prove in the end that one with a righteous cause 
was a majority. At the time to which I refer in 1855 and i860, 
the appropriations for schools were $8,600, and $10,000, re- 
spectively, with a population of six thousand, while the ap- 
propriation for the present year is forty-nine thousand dollars, 
to which the interest on the school debt must be added, with 
little less than double the population. 

In performing the duties of moderator many questions arise 
for which neither law nor parliamentary usage furnishes any 
solution. He possesses arbitrary power which he must be care- 
ful in exercising-. Some of the questions which came up during 
my serv'ice in that office were sufficiently interesting to justify 
a reference to them. On one occasion an article in the warrant 
involved an appropriation to which the voters in the south part 
of the town were opposed, and after a full discussion the appro- 
priation was defeated, and the town passed on to the consider- 
ation of other articles in the warrant. In the latter part of 
the afternoon, after the southern voters had left for home, a 
motion was made to reconsider the vote of rejection, and with 
no rule of law to guide me, but one of fair play and square 
dealing, I ruled the motion out of order. I stated that the 
person moving reconsideration failed to make it before other 
business was done, and not having made it or given notice that 
he intended to make it, before adjournment, the 
opponents of the measure had a right to consider the question 
settled for the day. Some complained of the ruling, but its 
fairness was afterwards conceded, and so far as I know has 
been adopted as a guide for other moderators. 

On another occasion, while several articles in the warrant 
remained unconsidered, a motion was made to adjourn, which 



354 FLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

I ruled out of order. It was claimed that a motion to adjourn 
was always in order, and was undebatable. That is un- 
doubtedly true in any body or convention, which has regular 
sessions, for in that case an adjournment means merely an ad- 
journment to the next session, and the business arrested by 
the adjournment can be resumed when the next session comes 
together. But in a town meeting, unless it has been voted 
that when the meeting adjourns, it shall adjourn to meet at 
a certain time, a motion to adjourn cannot be entertained. 
There were only two courses which the mover might have 
pursued. He might have moved as above that when the meet- 
ing adjourns it adjourn to a certain time, and then if the town 
so votes a simple motion to adjourn would have been in order; 
or he might have moved that the consideration of the remain- 
ing articles in the warrant be indefinitely postponed, and if 
the town so vote, he could have moved to dissolve the meet- 
ing. A motion to adjourn unless there is a fixed time to ad- 
journ to is simply an absurdity. 

Under the old system of voting for town officers each set 
of officers was chosen on a separate ballot, and the count- 
ing of each set of ballots before balloting for the next officers 
involved great labor and delay. In order to expedite matters, 
a motion was made at the annual meeting in 1882 to instruct 
the moderator to appoint tellers, and I ruled the motion out 
of order, as being in controvention of the law. Many towns 
had been in the habit of employing tellers and their example 
was quoted as sufificient precedents for my guidance. I stated 
in general terms that the law conferred on the moderator ex- 
traordinary powers, and imposed upon him responsible duties 
which he could no more delegate to another than a constable 
or an assessor could delegate to a substitute his powers and 
duties. At the adjourned meeting I gave my reasons in writ- 
ing to the town, and a reporter for the Boston Herald being 
present, had it printed in full in the Sunday edition of that 
paper. The legislature was still in session, and the judiciary 
committee acknowledging the correctness of my ruling at once 
secured the passage of an act authorizing the appointment of 
tellers in town meetings. 

The question has often been asked whether a moderator 
can participate in debate. I am clearly of the opinion that 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



355 



except for the purpose of explaining rulings and answering 
questions within certain limitations, he cannot with propriety 
engage in the discussion of any measure before the town. It 
is extremely doubtful whether if he takes a marked interest in 
a debate he can secure the confidence of the town in the entire 
impartiality of his rulings and acts. For the same reason I 
do not believe in the propriety of his leaving the chair to 
speak from the floor. If, however, he should do so, I am 
clearly of the opinion that he vacates his chair, and that the 
only business before the town is to choose a moderator pro 
tem. His powers and duties cease the moment he leaves the 
chair, and they cannot be assumed by another upon whom 
they are not conferred by the town by ballot, and the use of the 
checklist. 

How far a moderator shall go in ruling on the illegality 
of a proposition contained in the warrant, it is difficult to lay 
down any rule. There are many moderators unfamiliar with 
the laws who would necessarily pemiit the consideration of the 
article, trusting to the meeting to decide on the arguments in 
which illegality is alleged whether the proposition shall be re- 
jected. If in such a case an illegal vote is favored a remedy 
may be found on an application to the court for an m junction. 

On the whole the ruling must be left to the judgment of 
the moderator, who would not hesitate to rule, for instance, 
out of order an article to see if the town will build a steam- 
boat to run between Plymouth and Boston. 

I cannot close this chapter without suggesting that, while 
the most s'tringent laws are in force to prevent illegal voting 
in the elections of officers, a law should be enacted either ex- 
cluding non voters from the floor at town meetings, or pre- 
scribing such a method of voting on appropriations as shall 
preclude the nossibility of illegal voting. If other methods 
are impracticable it might at least be provided that in voting 
on appropriations exceeding $5,000, voters shall pass between 
two tellers appointed by the moderator and standing in front 
of the platform, who shall count the votes and report to the 
moderator. 



356 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Accounts of the celebrations which have been held in Plym- 
outh within my memory, or described to me by those who wit- 
nessed them, are worthy of record. I shall first, however, give 
a list of Pilgrim celebrations conducted by the Old Colony 
Club, the town, the Pilgrim Society, the first and third par- 
ishes, the Robinson Society and the Fire Department, with the 
names of orators. 



1770, 
1772, 
1773 
1774 
1775 
1776 

1777: 

1778, 

1779: 

178O; 

1798: 

1800, 

1801 

1802 

1803 

1804, 

1804 

!So6, 

1S07, 

18 

1809, 

181 1 

181S 

1816 

1817 

1818, 

1819 

1820, 

1822 

1824, 

1826 

1827, 

1828, 

1829 

1829, 



Old Colony Club, Edward Winslow, Jr., of Plymouth. 

Old Colony Club, Rev. Chandler Robbins of Plymouth. 

Old Colony Club, Rev. Qiarles Turner of Duxbury. 

Town, Rev. Gad Hitchcock of Pembroke. 

Town, Rev. Samuel Baldwin of Hanover. 

Town, Rev. Sylvanus Conant of Middleboro. 

Town, Rev. Samuel West of Dartmouth. 

Town, Rev. Timothy Hilliard of Barnstable. 

Town, Rev. William Shaw of Marshfield. 

Town, Rev. Jonathan Moore of Rochester. 

Town, Dr. Zaccheus Bartlett of Plymouth. 

Town, Hon. John Davis of Boston. 

Town, Rev. John Allyn of Duxbury. 

Town, Hon. John Quincy Adams of Quincy. 

Town, Rev. John T. Kirkland of Cambridge. 

First Parish, Rev. James Kendall of Plymouth. 

Town, Hon. Alden Bradford of Boston. 

Town, Rev. Abiel Holmes of Cambridge. 

Town, Rev. James Freeman of Boston. 

Town, Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris of Dorchester. 

Town, Rev. Abiel Abbot of Beverly. 

Town, Rev. John Eliot of Boston. 

Town, Rev. James Flint of Bridgewater. 

First Parish, Rev. Ezra Shaw Goodwin of Sandwich. 

Town, Rev. Horace HoUey of Boston. 

Town, Hon. Wendell Davis of Sandwich. 

Town, Hon. Francis C. Gray of Boston. 

Pilgrim Society, Hon. Daniel Webster of Boston. 

Pilgrim Society, Rev. Eliphalet Porter of Roxbury. 

Pilgrim Society, Hon. Edward Everett of Cambridge. 

Third Parish, Rev. Richard S. Storrs of Braintree. 

Third Parish, Rev. Lyman Beecher of Boston. 

Third Parish, Rev. Samuel Green of Boston. 

Third Parish, Rev. Daniel Huntington of Bridgewater. 

Pilgrim Society, Hon. Wm. Sullivan of Boston. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 357 

1830, Third Parish, Rev. Benjamin Wisner of Boston. 

1831, Third Parish, Rev. John Codman of Dorchester. 

1831, First Parish, Rev. John Brazier of Salem. 

1832, Third Parish, Rev. Jonathan Bigelow of Rochester. 

1832, First Parish, Rev. Converse Francis of Watertown. 

1833, First Parish, Rev. Samuel Barrett of Boston. 

1834, Pilgrim Society, Rev. George W. Blagden of Boston. 

1835, Pilgrim Society, Hon. Peleg Sprague of Boston. 

1837, Pilgrim Society, Rev. Robert B. Hall of Plymouth. 

1838, Pilgrim Society, Rev. Thomas Robbins of Mattapoisett. 

1839, Third Parish, Rev. Robert B. tl'all of Plymouth. 

1841, Pilgrim Society, Hon. Joseph R. Chandler of Philadelphia. 
1S45, Pilgrim Society, dinner with speeches. 

1846, Third Parish, Rev. Mark Hopkins of Williamstown. 

1847, First Parish, Rev. Thomas L. Stone of Salem. 

1848, Robinson Society, Rev. Samuel M. Worcester of Salem. 
1853, Pilgrim Society, dinner and speeches. 

1855, Pilgrim Society. Hon. Wm. H. Seward of Auburn, N. Y. 
1859, Pilgrim Society dinner and speeches. 
1870, Pilgrim Society, Hon. Robert C. Winthrop of Boston. 
1880, Pilgrim Society, dinner and speeches. 

1885, Pilgrim Society, dinner and speeches. 

1886, Fire Department, dinner and speeches. 

1889, Pilgrim Society, Hon. W. F. C. Breckinridge of Lexington, Ky., 
and a poem by John Boyle O'Reilly of Boston. 

1895, Pilgrim Society, Hon. George F. Hoar of Worcester, and a poem 
by Richard Henry Stoddard of New York. 

On the 24th of January, 1820, the Pilgrim Society was in- 
corporated and a committee of arrang-ements consisting of 
Nathan Hayward, Wm. Davis, Jr., and Nathaniel Spooner was 
chosen for the celebration of the next anniversary of the Land- 
ing of the Pilgrims. It was determined to make the first dem- 
onstration of the Society a memorable one. It is creditable to 
the foresight of the society that they selected Mr. Webster for 
orator. He was only thirty-eight years of age, and had not so 
far as was generally known, reached the maturity of his pow- 
ers. Before coming from Portsmouth to Boston in 18 16, he 
had served two terms in the lower house of Congress, and was 
then practicing successfully at the Suffolk bar. He had, how- 
ever, leaped into fame by his argument in the United States Su- 
preme Court in 1818 in the Dartmouth College case. In 1769 
a corporation called the "Trustees of Dartmouth College" was 
chartered to have perpetual existence, and power to hold and 
dispose of the lands for the use of the college, and the right to 



35^ PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

fill vacancies in their own body. In 1816 the New Hampshire 
legislature changed the corporate name to "The trustees of 
Dartmouth University," and made the twelve trustees, together 
with nine others to be appointed by the Governor and council, 
a new corporation with the property of the old corporation, 
with power to establish new colleges and an institution under 
the control of twenty-five overseers. After a transfer of the 
property had been made the old trustees brought an action of 
trover to recover it on the ground of the unconstitutionali- 
ty of the act. The act of the legislature was declared constitu- 
tional by the Superior Court of New Hampshire, and by a writ 
of error the case was carried to the United States Supreme 
Court in 18 18, where, in 1819, the decision of the New Hamp- 
shire Court was reversed, and the act of the legislature de- 
clared unconstitutional. Mr. Webster's argument had never 
before been equalled, and has never since been surpassed. 

At the time of the celebration, whoever, within an easy dis- 
tance from Boston, could secure accommodations in Plymouth 
availed himself of the opportunity. I have letters addressed 
to my grandfather, written in August, asking him to engage 
lodgings of some sort. There were three hotels in Plymouth, 
all of them crowded with guests, and every spare bed in town 
was secured. On the day of the celebration, by stage, by pri- 
vate carriage, and public hack, visitors came on a two days' 
trip in the dead of winter, fortunate if able to obtain a whole 
or a part of a bed, while the drivers slept in their carriages. But 
fortunately the day of the celebration was as mild as Indian 
summer. I was told many years ago by a man who remem- 
bered it, that he sat through a part of the day by an open win- 
dow in his shirt sleeves. There has been preserved by the 
Pilgrim Society a parchment containing the autographs of 
all who attended the dinner, so that the array of distinguished 
men who listened to Mr. Webster is not left to the imagina- 
tion. Among the visitors were. Rev. John T. Kirkland, Presi- 
dent of Harvard, Professors Edward Everett, Geo. Ticknor 
and Levi Hedge, Rev. Abiel Abbot. Rev. Abiel Holmes, Rev. 
John G. Palfrey, Rev. John Pierce, Rev. Converse Francis, 
Rev. James Flint, Rev. Alexander Young, Rev. Charles Low- 
ell, Rev. Francis Parkman, Rev. Wm. P. Lunt, Judge John 
Davis, Isaac P. Davis, Thomas H. Perkins, Francis C. Gray, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 359 

Levi Lincoln, Stephen Salisbury, Timothy Bigelow, Laban W. 
Wheaton, Martin Brimmer, Benjamin Rotch, Amos Lawrence, 
Thomas Bulfinch, Theron Metcalf, Nahum Mitchell, Wm. S. 
Otis, George A. Trumbull, Augustus Peabody, Henderson 
Inches, Francis Baylies, Willard Phillips, Henry Grinnell, 
Samuel A. Eliot, Isaiah Thomas, Dudley A. Tyng, Isaac Mc- 
Clellan, Amos Binney and others of no less distinction. No 
such an assembly had ever before gathered in New England 
as that which filled the church of the First Parish on that 
memorable day. The scene was worthy of the best efforts 
of the painter's art. The galleries reserved for the ladies, 
seemed with the mingling of colors in dress and hats and fans 
like banks of summer flowers mellowing the sombre garb 
worn by the society and their guests on the floor below. INIr. 
Webster wearing small clothes and buckles and shoes, and 
over all a silk gown, stood on a raised platform in front of the 
high oak pulpit and began his oration with words to which 
his audience was in the spirit to heartily respond, "Let us re- 
joice that we behold this day." 

Perhaps that part of the oration which gave to it its chief dis- 
tinction, was that denunciatory of the slave trade. A law was 
passed by Congress in 1808 abolishing the trade, but it had 
slumbered on the statute books until Mr. Webster twelve years 
later, breathed into it the breath of life. In a town, which was 
in early days within the Plymouth colony, the trade was still 
carried on, and by this fact the scathing words of the oration 
were inspired. 'T hear the sound of the hammer. I see the 
smoke of the furnace where manacles and fetters are still 
forged for human limbs. I see the visages of those who by 
stealth and at midnight labor in this work of hell, foul and 
dark as may become the artificers of such instruments of 
misery and torture. Let that spot be purified, or let it cease 
to be of New England." 

There was another passage, never more needed than to- 
day to be impressed on the public mind, relating to military 
achievements. "Great actions and striking occurrences having 
excited a temporary admiration often pass away and are for- 
gotten. * * Such is frequently the fortune of the most 
brilliant military achievements. Of the ten thousand battles 
which have been fought ; of all the fields fertilized with earn- 



360 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

age ; of the banners which have been bathed in blood ; of the 
warriors who have hoped that they had risen from the field 
of conquest to a glory as bright and as durable as the stars, 
how few that continue to interest mankind. The victory of 
yesterday is reversed by the defeat of today; the star of mili- 
tary glory rising like a meteor, like a meteor has fallen; dis- 
grace and disaster hang on the heels of conquest and renown; 
victor and vanquished presently pass away to oblivion, and the 
world goes on in its course with the loss only of so many lives, 
and so much treasure." 

A dinner was served in the Court House, then building, by 
John Blaney Bates of Plymouth, who also served the supper 
for the ball held in the same place. I have a letter addressed 
to my grandfather in the summer of 1820, showing that an 
invitation to Mr. Everett to deliver a poem after the oration 
was contemplated, and that Mr. Everett said he would accept 
such an invitation. But wise counsels prevailed, and it was 
thought best to give to Mr. Webster alone the honors of the 
day. 

In 1822 Rev. Eliphalet Porter of Roxbury delivered an ad- 
dress before the Pilgrim Society, but no record of the ceremon- 
ies of the day have been preserved. 

In 1824 Edw. Everett was the orator of the Pilgrim Society, 
and on Wednesday, the 22d of December, a crowd of strangers 
visited the town to hear the eloquent orator. Mr. Everett, 
after graduating at Harvard in 181 1, was settled pastor of the 
Brattle street church in 181 3, to succeed Rev. Joseph Stevens 
Buckminster, who died in 181 2. In 1814 he was chosen 
Eliot Professor of Greek at Harvard, and from 1815 to 1819, 
he spent in study and travel in Europe preparing for his duties 
as Professor. In 18 19 he returned and entered upon his office, 
resigning in 1824, in which year he delivered an address before 
the Phi Beta Society, and was chosen member of Congress. 
His oration was a splendid effort, and I was told by Rev. Sam- 
uel K. Lothrop, who was present, that it was repeatedly said 
at the time that his oration came fully up to the Webster stand- 
ard. But time failed to justify the comparison. Beauty of 
imagery, and a grace of delivery, captivated for the hour, but 
like the elusive tints of the rainbow, they were forgotten, 
when the thimder and lightning which had preceded it were 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN, 36 1 

recalled. After the oration, a dinner was served in Pilgrim 
Hall, the cornerstone of which was laid on the first of 
the previous September, and which was finished in time for 
the celebration. 

The celebration in 1829 was the first of which I have any 
recollection. I was then seven years of age, but I remember 
being carried up North street and along Main and Court streets 
to see the illumination of the town on the evening before the 
celebration. Even that I should perhaps have failed to re- 
member had I not got something in one of my eyes and gone 
home crying. Hon. William Sullivan of Boston delivered the 
oration, the son of James Sullivan, who was Governor of Mas- 
sachusetts in 1807. Mr. Sullivan was one of the leaders of the 
Boston bar, but as far as I know this was the first opportunity 
to display his powers as an orator. During a winter's resi- 
dence in Philadelphia in 1844, I became intimate with his son, 
John T, S, Sullivan, a man of more varied accomplishments 
than any man I ever personally knew. He was a master of the 
Spanish, French, Italian and German languages, was an ex- 
cellent singer, a skilful performer on the piano, guitar, banjo 
and harp, and a story teller who would put Depew and Choate 
to the blush. 

On Alonday, December 22, 1834, Rev. George W. Blagden 
of the Boston Old South church, was the orator of the Pil- 
grim Society, and in the absence of the President, Dr. Zac- 
cheus Bartlett presided, assisted by Judah Alden of Duxbury, 
Wilkes Wood of Middleboro, Wm. W. Swain of New Bedford, 
Henry J. Oliver of Boston, John Thomas of Kingston, and 
Josiah Robbins of Plymouth. Samuel Doten was chief mar- 
shall, and the dinner in Pilgrim Hall, as well as supper for 
the ball in the same place, was furnished by Danville Bryant 
of the Pilgrim House. During the year preceding the cele- 
bration a handsome glass chandelier fitted for candles was 
hung in Pilgrim Hall, and the present wooden portico was 
built. During the day Dr. James Thacher, then eighty years 
of age, was knocked down and run over by a carriage, but 
not seriously injured. 

Rev. Dr. George Washington Blagden, son of George and 
Anne (Davies), Blagden, was born in Washington, D. C. 
October 3, 1802 and graduated at Yale in 1823 and at the 



3^2 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Andover Theological Seminary in 1827. He was ordained in 
Brighton, IMass. in 1827, installed in the Salem street church 
in Boston in 1830 and in the Old South church in Boston, in 
1836. He was made Doctor of Divinity by Yale in 1843, ^7 
Union College in 1849 ^^^ by Harvard in 1850. While pastor 
emeritus of the Old South, he died Dec. 17, 1884. 

On Tuesday, December 22, 1835, an oration was delivered 
before the Pilgrim Society by Hon. Peleg Sprague of Boston. 
Mr. Sprague, son of Seth and Deborah (Sampson) Sprague 
of Duxbury, was born April 2y, 1793, and graduated at Har- 
vard in 1812. He studied law at Litchfield law school, and 
was admitted to the Plymouth bar in 181 5, and settled in Aug- 
usta, Maine, removing at the end of two years to Hallowell. 
He was Representative in 1 820-1 ; member of Congress from 
1825 to i829;United States Senator from 1829 to 1835, when he 
moved to Boston. He was Judge of the United States District 
Court from 1847 to 1865, and died in Boston, October 13, 1886. 
On that occasion Samuel Doten was chief marshal, assisted by 
John Tribble, Sylvanus Harlow, Eliab Ward. John Washburn, 
Ichabod Shaw and Nelson Holmes. At the dinner Alden Brad- 
ford, the president of the society presided, assisted by Jos. 
Tilden of Boston ; Wilkes Wood of Middleboro : Phineas 
Sprague of Duxbury ; Dr. Samuel West of Tiverton ; Samuel 
A. Frazier of Duxbury, and Benjamin Rodman of New Bed- 
ford. Hon. Edw. Everett of Boston was one of the numerous 
speakers, and Miss Harriet Martineau, who was the guest of 
Dr. Zaccheus Bartlett, was present at both the dinner and ball. 
She was very deaf, and conversation with her was difficult. 
I was a boy of thirteen, but I remember standing near her ac- 
companied by Mrs. Dr.Winslow Warren, when Judge Warren 
as he joined the group was asked if he did not wish to be intro- 
duced to her. The air of the hall was thick and heavy with 
dust, which together with the music of the band made the ear 
sensitive to sounds, and as the Judge replied that he could not 
make her hear he was surprised to hear her say 'T think, Judge, 
that you will have no difficulty."' I had once very much the 
same experience. I called on a friend who had a guest who 
had been stone deaf many years, and had learned the art of 
reading what was said, in the motion of the lips. I did not 
know this, and when my host left the room temporarily, I asked 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 363 

her to return soon, as it would be embarrassing- to be left with a 
person with whom I could not engage in conversation, and was 
astonished to hear the lady say she thought we could talk well 
enough together. Though I wore a moustache her eye read 
what her ear could not hear. 

In 1837 an address was delivered before the Pilgrim Society 
by Rev. Robert B. Hall, a notice of whom may be found in a 
previous chapter, to which I take this opportunity to add that 
in 1849, after his return to Plymouth to take up a permanent 
residence, he accepted an invitation to preach for a time in the 
Robinson church. 

In 1838 Rev. Thomas Robbins of Rochester delivered an 
anniversary address before the Pilgrim Society. Mr. Rob- 
bins, son of Ammi Ruhamah and Elizabeth (LeBaron) Rob- 
bins, was born in Norfolk, Conn., August 11, 1777. He entered 
Yale College in 1792, and in 1795 removed to Williams College, 
where he graduated in 1796. Immediately after his gradua- 
tion he returned to Yale and graduated there in the same year. 
He spent two years in teaching in Sheffield, Mass., and Torring- 
ford, Conn., and in studying for the ministry. In 1798 he 
was licensed to preach by the Litchfield North Association, 
and engaged in missionary' service until 1809, when he was 
settled in East Windsor, where he remained until 1827. After 
a year at Stratford, Conn., he was settled in that part of 
Rochester, Mass., which is now Mattapoisett, where he remain- 
ed until 1846. He gathered a valuable library, which he gave 
to the Connecticut Historical Society, with the understanding 
that he should be appointed librarian wnth a suitable salary, 
and he continued in that office until his death, which occurred 
at Colebrook, Conn , September 13, 1856. 

At the celebration, December 22, 1841, Hon. Joseph Ripley 
Chandler of Philadelphia, delivered the oration. A dinner 
w^as served in the lower Pilgrim Hall, at which Hon. Nathaniel 
Morton Davis, president of the society, presided, assisted by 
Abraham Hammatt of Ipswich, Pelham Winslow Warren of 
Lowell, Joshua Thomas Stevenson of Boston, Gcrshom B. 
Weston of Duxbury, Thomas Prince Beal of Kingston, and 
Barnabas Churchill of Plymouth. Among the speakers were 
Samuel M. Burnside, President of the American Antiquarian 
Society, and Rev. John L. Russell. Mr. Chandler was born 



364 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

in Kingston, August 25, 1792, and early became a clerk in 
Boston, soon after teaching school, and about 18 15 removing 
to Philadelphia. In that city he and his wife engaged in teach- 
ing a school, and in 1822 he became connected with the 
United States Gazette, and from 1826 to 1847, was its editor. 
He was a member of the city council from 1832 to 1848, a 
delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1836, a mem- 
ber of Congress from 1849 to 1855, ^^^ travelled in Europe 
from 1855 to 1858, in which latter year he was minister to the 
two Sicilies. He died in Philadelphia, July 10, 1880. 

In 1845 the Pilgrim Society departed from their usual cus- 
tom, and omitting an oration, celebrated the twenty-second 
of December by a short service in the First church, at which 
Rev. Dr. Francis Wayland, president of Brown University, 
and Rev. Dr. James Kendall officiated, and a dinner in the 
passenger station of the Old Colony Railroad, which had been 
closed in and floored over for the purpose On that occa- 
sion Pelham W. Hayward was chief marshal, and as one of 
the marshals, I then began in an humble way, a participation 
in the celebrations of the Pilgrim Society, which has contin- 
ued in the various positions of chief marshal, member of the 
committee of arrangements, and presiding officer without in- 
terruption down to the present time. At the dinner Hon. 
Charles Henry Warren, president of the society, presided, as- 
sisted by Col. John B. Thomas of Plymouth, Henry Crocker, 
Abbot Lawrence and David Sears of Boston, and John H. 
Clifford of New Bedford. The dinner was seived by J. B. 
vSmith of Boston, and was contributed to by a baron of beef 
from Daniel Webster, and a turbot and saddle of mutton 
brought from England in the Cunard Steamer Acadia, from 
S. S. Lewis, the agent of the Cunard Company The speak- 
ers were Josiah Quincy, president of Harvard, Rufus Choate, 
George S. Hillard, Edward Everett and Nathaniel Morton 
Davis, ex-president of the society. Dr. Oliver Wendell 
Holmes read a poem, written for the occasion^ entitled "The 
Pilgrim's Vision." 

The speech of Mr. Everett is worthy of special comment 
as showing how thoroughly he had studied the art of oratory. 
Before the dinner he sent a message to the caterer, Mr. 
Smith, asking him to place an orange by the side of his plate. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 365 

At the close of his speech, after refuting the charc^e that the 
Pilgrims were narrow and bigoted he said. "But by their 
fruits ye shall know them ; not by the graceful foliage which 
dallies with the summer breeze ; nor by the flower which fades 
and scatters its perfume on the gale : but h^ the golden, per- 
fect fruit (seizing the orange, and lifting it above his head) 
in which the genial earth, and ripening sun have garnered up 
treasures for the food of man, and which in its decay leaves 
behind it the germs of a continued and mviltiplying existence." 
The next celebration conducted by the Pilgrim Society oc- 
curred August I, 1853, the anniversary of the departure of 
the Pilgrims from Delfthaven. On the i6th of June in that 
year a committee of arrangements was chosen by the trustees 
consisting of Richard Warren of New York, president of the 
society, Timothy Gordon, Andrew L. Russell, Eleazer C. 
Shermian and Wm. S. Russell of Plymouth ; Nathaniel B. 
Shurtleff. Charles Henry Warren and James T. Hayward of 
Boston. I was appointed Chief Mai'shal, and I appointed 
Samuel H. Doten and John D. Churchill, aids and the follow- 
ing assistant marshals ; Wm. Atwood, Wm. Bishop, Charles 
O. Churchill, Winslow Drew, John H. Harlow, Barnabas 
Hedge, George H. Jackson, Thomas Loring, John J. Russell, 
Edward W. Russell, Nathaniel B. Spuoner, George Simmons, 
Jeremiah Farris, Samuel Shaw, B. H. Holmes, Isaac Brew- 
ster, Wm. R. Drew, George G. Dyer, Daniel J. Lane, Wm. H. 
Nelson and George Bramhall of Plymouth ; Waterman French 
of Abington ; Phillip D. Kingman of Bridgewater : Matthias 
Ellis of Carver ; Charles Henry Thomas, Wm. Ellison and 
George B. Standish of Duxbury; James H. Mitchell of East 
Bridgewater; James H. Wilder of Hingham ; Perez Simmons 
of Hanover ; Nathan Gushing of Hanson : Robert Gould of 
Hull ; Joseph S. Beal of Kingston ; Harrison Staples of Lake- 
ville; J. Sampson, Jr., of Middleboro; W. N. Ellis of Marion ; 
George M. Baker of Marshfield ; G. W. Bryant of North 
Bridgewater ; Zacheus Parker of Plympton ; George F. Hatch 
of Pembroke; Theophilus King of Rochester; Wm. P. Allen 
of Scituate ; Albion Turner of South Scituate ; Thomas Ames 
of West Bridgewater ; Lewis Kenney of Wareham ; LeBaron 
Russell, Rufus B. Bradford, Solomon J. Gordon, George P. 
Hayward, Thomas Russell, Isaac Winslow and Pclham W. 
Havward of Boston. 



3^6 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

A large number of guests was invited, including the Presi- 
dent of the United States ; members of the cabinet ; the Gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts ; members of Congress and U. S. Sen- 
ators from Massachusetts ; the Mayor of Boston ; President 
of the Massachusetts Senate, and Speaker of the House of 
Representatives; Wm. H. Seward, John J. Crittenden, Na- 
tlianiel P Banks, Charles H. Warren, Robert C. Winthrop, 
Abbott T.awrence, Josiah Quincy, judge Peleg Sprague, 
George Bancroft, John P. Kennedy, the presidents of 
Harvard, Yale, Williams, Brown, and Amherst colleges, 
Jared Sparks, John P. Hale, Edward Everett, Oliver 
W. Holmes, the Plym.outh Church, Southwark, England, 
the authorities of Delflhaven, Leyden, Southampton and 
old Plymouth, the New England societies of New York, 
Brooklyn, Philadlephia, Charleston, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, 
Louisville, St. Louis, New Orleans, Detroit, San Francis- 
co and Washington, and many others, too numerous to men- 
tion. The New York Light Guard, which had been invited 
to attend the celebration with the New England Society of 
New York, arrived in the laftemoon of Sunday, and with 
Dodworth's band marched to their quarters provided in the 
old Hedge house in Leyden street, which happened at that 
time to be vacant, and was fitted up for their accommodation. 
The town was profusely decorated ; arches were erected on 
Court, Main, North, Summer and Pleasant streets, and every 
building was decorated with flags and mottoes. The inscrip- 
tion in large letters on the house of Wm. Brewster Barnes, 
opposite Pilgrim Hall, "August i. Forefathers' Day Thawed 
Out" attracted much attention. The features of the day were 
a religious service in the First Church in the early forenoon, 
a procession and a dinner. The service consisted of Scripture 
reading by Rev. Dr. George W. Blagden of the Old South 
Church in Boston, a prayer by Rev. Dr. James Kendall, pre- 
ceded and followed by the singing of appropriate hymns, and 
a benediction by Rev. Chas. S. Porter of Plymouth. The 
dinner was provided by John Wright of Boston in a mammoth 
tent, which covered more than the easterly half of Training 
Green, with the speaker's platform in the middle of the west- 
erly side, and was set for twenty-five hundred persons. The 
procession with its head near the chief marshal's headquarters, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 367 

which were located on the Samoset House lawn, marched 
north to Lothrop street, then countermarching- and proceeding- 
through Court, Main, Leyden, Water, Market, High, Sum- 
mer and Pleasant streets to the tent which was completely 
filled, about seven hundred ladies having been admitted be- 
fore the arrival of the procession to seats on one side of each 
table. The order of the procession was as follows : Es- 
cort, Boston Brigade Band, The Standish Guards, Abington 
Artillery, Samoset Guards, Halifax Light Infantry, Plymouth 
Band, Chief Marshal and Aids. President and officers and 
committee of arrangements of the Pilgrim Society, Governor 
of Massachusetts and staff, attended by the Corps of Inde- 
pendent cadets, and Adjutant General, South Abington band, 
presidents of New England societies, and of the Cape Cod As- 
sociation, United States Senators, members of Congress, pres- 
ident of the State Senate, United States District Attorney, 
Attorney General of Massachusetts, invited guests. New Eng- 
land Society of New York, attended by the New York Light 
Guard and Dodworth's band. Pilgrim Society, town officers, 
clergy, school teachers. South Bridgewater band, and the 
Plymouth fire department. At the President's table sat at 
his right and left Rev. Dr. James Kendall, Rev. Dr. George 
W. Blagden, Hon. Edward Everett, Governor John H. Clif- 
ford, Hon. Chas. H. Warren, Hon. Chas. Sumner, Hon. John 
P. Hale, Hon. H. A. Scudder, Hon. Richard Yeadon, Hon. 
Chas. W.Upham, Rev.Sam'l Osgood, Rev. Chas. S. Porter and 
Hiram Fuller. The speeches were of a high order, elaborate 
and eloquent. Governor Clifford in his speech rebuked the 
reckless spirit which proclaims manifest destiny as our Nation- 
al guide in the following words : "But what is the manifest 
destiny doctrine of our day with which we are constantly stim- 
ulating our national arrogance and self conceit? . . I believe 
the most recent and authoritative exposition of it is that it is 
one of the inexorable conditions of our country's existence, 
"to march, march, march" in the path of Pagan Rome as rest- 
less as the eternal tramp of the Wandering Jew . . till its 
mission is accomplished. Sir, are we content to abide by the 
example of our fathers? Which will you carry from this scene 
of joyous festivity and pious commemoration — a prayer that 
the forward march of the countrv vou love, and in which your 



368 rLYJVlOUTH MEMORIES 

children are to live shall be symbolized by the Wandering 
Jew or by the Christian Pilgrim." Governor Clifford was 
then forty-four years old, and consequently he was not utter- 
ing the sentiments of over caution which sometimes charac- 
terize old age. If any of my readers think that he was, they 
will be pleased with the following eloquent passage in the 
speech of Mr. Everett, which followed. In speaking of the 
great work of the Pilgrims not yet finished he said : "The 
work — the work must go on. It must reach at the North to 
the enchanted cave of the magnet within never melting bar- 
riers of Arctic ice ; it must bow to the Lord of day on the altar 
peaks of Chimborazo; it must look up and worship the 
Southern cross. From the Eastern most cliff on the Atlantic 
that bkishes in the kindling dawn, to the last promontory on 
the Pacific which receives the parting kiss of the setting sun 
as he goes down to his pavilion of purple and gold it must 
make the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice in 
the gladsome light of morals and letters and arts." This was 
a poetic sentiment of great beauty illustrating the art of elo- 
quence which Mr. Hale turned into ridicule in his later speech 
when he said, 'T find that the boldest tropes that ever rung 
beneath the dome of your Federal capitol are tame to the con- 
ceptions which have been poured forth from Pilgrim lips upon 
Pilgrim ears today. We heard there of men whose powers of 
digestion were so capacious that the idea of swallowing Mexico 
at a meal did not alarm them. Today in the most eloquent 
language we have had the genius of our country taking her 
seat at the center of magnetic attraction swallowing Chimbo- 
razo for supper, and kissing sunset with an affectionate em- 
brace." 

The other speakers were Mr. Sumner, Dr. Blagden, Charles 
W. Upham, Richard Yeadon, Henry A. Scudder, Rev. Sam- 
uel Osgood and Hiram Fuller. In the evening there was a 
brilliant display of fireworks, music by the Brigade band in 
Town Square, and a reception at the house then occupied by 
President Warren, now the home of Colonel Stoddard. 

John Henry Clifford was born in Providence, January 16, 
1809, and graduated at Brown in 1827. After studying law 
he settled in New Bedford and began his public career as Rep- 
resentative in 1835. He was Attorney General from 1849 to 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 369 

1853, and from 1854 to 1858, having been chosen governor 
in 1852. He received in 1849 from Harvard a degree of 
LL. D., and died in New Bedford, January 2, 1876. 

John Parker Hale was born in Rochester, N. H., March 31, 
1806, and graduated at Bowdoin in 1827, and was admitted 
to the bar in Dover and settled there. He was a representa- 
tive in 1832, and United States District Attorney from 1834 
to 1 84 1, member of Congress from 1843 to 1845. I" 1S46 he 
was speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives 
and United States Senator from 1847 to 1853, and from 1855 
to 1865. He was minister to Spain from 1865 to 1869, and 
candidate of the Liberty party for president in 1852. He 
died in Dover, November 19, 1873. 

Charles Sumner was born in Boston, January 6, 181 1, and 
graduated at Harvard in 1830. The only political office he 
ever held was that of United States Senator, to which he was 
chosen in 185 1, remaining by successive elections in office until 
his death, which occurred in Washington, March 11, 1874. 

Charles Wentworth Upham, son of Joshua Upham, a noted 
loyalist, was born in St. John, N. B., May 4, 1802, and grad- 
uated at Harvard in 1821. In 1824 he was settled as col- 
league pastor of Rev. John Prince of the First Church in 
Salem. In 1844 he relinquished preaching on account of a 
partial loss of voice, and thenceforth devoted himself to lit- 
erature and politics. In 1852 he was Mayor of Salem, and 
after serving some years as Representative, was President of 
the Senate in 1857 and 1858. He was a member of the State 
Constitutional Convention in 1853 ; a member of Congress from 
1853 to 1855, and died in Salem, June 14, 1875. 

Rev. Samuel Osgood was born in Charlestown, August 30, 
181 2, and graduated at Harvard in 1832. After leaving the 
Cambridge Divinity school in 1835 ^^ was settled in Nashua, 
N. H., in 1838, and in 1841 over the Westminster Unitarian 
church in Providence. In 1849 he became pastor of the 
Church of the Messiah, Unitarian, in New York, where he 
remained until 1869. In 1870 he was ordained deacon in the 
Episcopal church, and continued in that faith until his death, 
April 14, 1880. 

Hiram Fuller was born in Halifax, ]\Iass., at a date un- 
known by me, but probably about 1807. I remember hearing 



370 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

him say that the first time he ever came to Plymouth he rode 
on a charcoal cart. He opened a private school in Plymouth 
in 1832, keeping it at various times in Robbin's Hall on 
Middle street or Paine's hall, as it was later called, and in Old 
Colony Hall in the rear of the present market of C. B. Har- 
low. He went from Plymouth to Providence about 1835 or 
1836, where he taught school for a time, and afterwards open- 
ed a bookstore. He went from Providence to New York, 
where he became associated with N. P. Willis and George P. 
Morris in the editorship of the Neiv Mirror and Home 
Journal, retaining his connections with those papers during 
a period of fourteen years. Under the name of Belle Brittan 
he published a volume of brilliant letters, and devoted much 
of his time to miscellaneous literary labors. When the Civil 
War came on his sympathies were enlisted in behalf of the 
South, and finding New York an uncongenial residence, went 
to England, where he remained until his death. At one time 
he had an editorial connection in London, with a newspaper 
called the Cosmopolitan, but I have reason to believe that the 
issue of the war and the consequent loss of English interest 
in the Confederate cause, left him stranded and reduced in 
a foreign land. 

In 1855 the anniversary of the Landing was celebrated on 
the 22nd of December, on which occasion Hon. Wm. H. Se- 
ward of Auburn, N. Y., delivered an oration in the First 
Church. The incident which I remember more distinctly than 
any other in connection with the oration, was Mr. Seward's 
lighting a cigar the moment the benediction was pronounced 
as he stood on a raised platform in front of the pulpit. He 
was a confirmed smoker, and like too many other confirmed 
smokers of our day had little regard for the time and place 
for the indulgence of his habit. The dinner was prepared 
by J. B. Smith of Boston in Davis Hall, and Richard Warren, 
president of the Pilgrim Society, presided. The speakers 
were : Mr. Seward, Hon. George S. Boutwell, Rev. John S. 
Barry, Wendell Phillips, Rev. Thomas D. Worrell of London, 
Rev. Dr. George W. Briggs and Hon. B. F. Butler of New 
York. The last named gentleman sharing with the Massa- 
chusetts General a distinguished name, was bom in Kinder- 
hook, N. Y., Dec. 15, 1795, and on his admission to the bar 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 3/1 

became in 1817 partner of Martin Van Buren. He was At- 
torney General of the United States, under Andrew Jackson, 
from 1 83 1 to 1834, acting secretary of war under Van Buren, 
and from 1838 to 1841, U. S. District Attorney for the South- 
em District of New York. He died in Paris, France, Nov. 
8, 1858. 

WilHam Henry Seward, the orator of the day, was bom 
in Florida, N Y., May 16, 1801, and graduated at Union col- 
lege in 1820. He was admitted to the bar in 1822, and set- 
tled in Auburn, and in 1830 was chosen State Senator on the 
anti-masonic ticket. In 1838 he was chosen Governor, and 
re-elected in 1840, and in 1849 was chosen U. S. Senator. In 
1861 he was appointed by President Lincoln secretary of 
state, and continued in office until the close of President John- 
son's term. He died in Auburn, October 10, 1872. 



372 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

In 1859, the necessary arrangements having been concluded 
for beginning work on the canopy over the Rock and on the 
National Monument, it was decided by the Pilgrim Society to 
lay at once the corner stones of those structures with suitable 
ceremonies. The anniversary of the embarkation was again 
selected for celebrating the event, but as the first of August 
would fall on Monday, it was thought best to have the cele- 
bration on Tuesday, the second. The following committee of 
arrangements was appointed, by whom I was again appointed 
Chief Marshal, Richard Warren, Timothy Gordon, Wm. T. 
Davis, Samuel H. Doten, Charles O. Churchill and George 
G. Dyer. A committee on the ball was appointed, consisting 
of Edward W. Russell, Edward B. Hayden, Charles C. Doten 
of Plymouth, Austin C. Cushman of New Bedford, and Wm. 
S. Huntington of North Bridgewater. The chief marshal 
appointed as aides. Admiral P. Stone, Wm. Atwood, Samuel 
H. Doten, Charles Raymond, Leavitt Finney, John H. Har- 
low of Plymouth, James H. Beal of Boston, James Bates of 
East Bridgewater. He also appointed twenty-eight assistant 
marshals from Plymouth, and ten from other places. 

The committee decided on the following plan for the cele- 
bration : The laying of the cornerstone of the canopy by the 
Masonic order ; a procession ; the laying of the cornerstone 
of the National Monument with Masonic ceremonies ; a din- 
ner provided by J. B. Smith of Boston in a tent, capable of 
holding twenty-five hundred persons, pitched in the field be- 
low the present store of Wm. Burn's, now occupied by three 
dwelling houses, owned by Mr. Emery ; fireworks, and a ball 
in the evening in Davis Hall. At ten o'clock a Masonic pro- 
cession was formed on Main street, consisting of the Massa- 
chusetts, Boston and DeMoley encampments of Knights 
Templar, under command of John T. Heard, and marched 
to the Rock, where addresses were made by President War- 
ren and Mr. Heard, and a hymn was sung, composed by John 
Shepard. At half past eleven the grand procession, whose 
various divisons had been forming while the ceremony at the 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN, 373 

Kock was going on, started from the headquarters of the 
chief marshal near the Samoset House, and proceeded through 
Court, Main, Market, High, Summer, Pleasant, Green, Sand- 
wich, Market, Leyden, Water, North, Court and Cushman 
streets to Monument hill. The procession marched in the fol- 
lowing order : Mounted police, Boston brigade band, Standish 
Guards, New Bedford City Guards, Braintree Light Infantry, 
So. Abington Infantry, New Bedford brass band, chief mar- 
shal and aids mounted, president of the Pilgrim Society and 
mvited guests, St. Paul's lodge of South Boston, lodge of 
Cambridge, Liberty lodge of New Bedford, Star of the East 
lodge of New Bedford, King Solomon lodge of Charlestown, 
Boston brass band, Washington lodge of Roxbury, the Plym- 
outh lodge, Plymouth brass band, Ro}'al Arch chapter of New 
Bedford, Boston encampment of Knights Templar, Royal 
Arch Chapter of South Abington, South Abington band, De- 
Moley encampment. Grand lodge of Massachusetts, Ameri- 
can brass band, Odd Fellows, New England Society of New 
York, Massachusetts Historical Society, American Antiquarian 
Society, Historic Genealogical Society, Cape Cod Association, 
Finney's band, Plymouth Fire Department, Campello Engine 
company. North Bridgev/ater band, and six groups on flats rep- 
resenting the Landing, Indians, advance of civilization, the 
thirty-three states, different nations, and the marine interests 
of Plymouth. 

After addresses at the monument by President Warren, and 
the ceremony of laying the cornerstone, conducted by the 
Grandmaster, John T. Heard, the invited guests were escorted 
to the dining tent, where Rev. Edward H. Hall, pastor of the 
First Church asked a blessing. Besides the president the 
speakers were. Gov. Banks, Salmon P. Chase, Wm, Maxwell 
Evarts, Gov. Buckingham of Conn., John P. Hale, Francis 
P. Bair, Jr., Anson Burlmghame, Gov. Kent of Maine, George 
Sumner and Rev. Mr. Waddington of Southwark, London. 
I have room for notices of only a few of these speakers. 
Nathaniel Prentiss Banks, born in Waltham, Mass., January 
30, 181 6, was a boy in a factory, editor of a local paper, rep- 
resentative in 1849, speaker of the Massachusetts House of 
Representatives, 185 1 and 1853, chairman of the Massachus- 
etts constitutional convention, 1853, member of congress, 



374 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

1853 to 1857, and speaker of the National House of Repre- 
sentatives from 1855 tc> 1857. He was chosen governor in 
1857, serving three years ; after which he was chosen presi- 
dent of the Illinois Central railroad, made Major General in 
1 86 1, serving until 1864, again member of Congress from 
1865 to 1877, excepting one year, when he was a member of 
the Massachusetts Senate, and finally United States Maishal 
in Boston in 1879. He died in Waltham, Sept. i, 1894. 

Salmon P. Chase was bom in Cornish, N. H., January 13, 
1808, and graduated at Dartmouth in 1826. He taught 
school in Washington, where he was admitted to the bar in 
1830. He was later Senator, Secretary of the Treasury, and 
Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, and died in New 
York, May 7, 1873. 

William Maxwell Evarts was born in Boston in Feb., 1818, 
and graduated at Yale in 1837. He studied law at Cambridge 
and settled in New York, and was counsel for President 
Johnson on his impeachment trial. Attorney General under 
Grant in 1868, Secretary of State under Hayes, and later U. 
S. Senator. He died in New York, Feb. 28, 1901. 

Edward Kent was bom in Concord, N. H., January 8, 1902, 
and settled as a lawyer in Bangor in 1825. In 1827 he was 
made chief justice of the Court of Sessions for Penobscot 
County, in 1829 was chosen Mayor of Bangor, and was Gov- 
ernor from 1838 to 1840. He was made U. S. Consul at Rio 
by President Taylor, and in 1859 Associate Justice of the 
Supreme Court. He died in Bangor, May 19, 1877. 

William Alfred Buckingham, born in Lebanon, Conn., May 
28, 1804, was a merchant and manufacturer, and Governor 
of Connecticut from 1858 to 1866, and in 1869 was chosen 
U. S. Senator. He died in Norwich, February 3, 1875. 

Anson Burlingame was born in New Berlin, N. Y., Nov. 
19, 1822, and studied law at the Harvard Law school and 
in Boston, where he was admitted to the bar. He was a mem- 
ber of the Massachusetts Senate in 1852, a delegate to the 
Massachusetts Constitutional Convention in 1853, and mem- 
ber of Congress from 1856 to 1861, in which latter year he 
was appointed minister to Austria. From 1861 to 1867 he 
was minister to China, and while in the service of China, died 
in St. Petersburg, February 23, 1870. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 375 

George Sumner was a brother of Charles Sumner, bom in 
Boston, February 5, 1817, where he died October 6, 1863. 
He published memoirs of the Pilgrims in Leyden, and de- 
livered the Fourth of July oration in Boston in 1859. 

Francis P. Blair, Jr., son of Francis Preston Blair, and 
brother of Montgomery Blair, was born in Lexington, Ky., 
February 19, 1821, and graduated at Princeton in 1841. He 
studied law and began practice in St. Louis. During the Mexi- 
can war he enlisted as private and served until 1847, when 
he returned to St. Louis and resumed practice. In 1848 he 
was a Free Soiler, and edited the Missouri Democrat. In 
1852 and 1854 he was a member of the Missouri Legislature, 
and in 1856 was chosen member of Congress, and again in 
i860 and 1862. He was commissioned Colonel in the army in 
1 86 1, and Brigadier General and Major General in 1862. In 
1866 he was appointed Collector of Customs at St. Louis. 
In 1868 he was the candidate of the Democratic party for Vice- 
President. In 1870 he was chosen U. S. Senator from Mis- 
souri, and died in St. Louis, July 8, 1875. 

In 1870 the Society voted to celebrate the 250th anniversary 
of the Landing of the Pilgrims on the 21st of December, and 
to establish that day for the first time and forever as the true 
day, instead of the 22d. Without entering upon any detailed 
explanation of the error leading to the observance of the 22d, 
it is sufficient to say that in 1620 the difference between the 
Julian calender, and the Gregorian calender, now used, was 
ten days, and that consequently an almanac made up in ac- 
cordance with the latter, would have marked the nth of De- 
cember the day of the Landing, as the 21st. It follows, of 
course, that what was then the Gregorian 21st, must be the 
2 1 St for all coming time. 

I was then Vice-President of the Pilgrim Society, and at 
a meeting of the trustees held on the 7th of September, it was 
voted that the committee of arrangements for the celebration 
be appointed, of which the Vice-President should be chairman. 
The committee as appointed consisted of Wm. T. Davis, Wm. 
H. Whitman, Eleazer C. Sherman, Charles G. Davis and Wm. 
S. Danforth, by whom subsequently the following additional 
members were appointed, John Morissey, Albert Mason. 
Samuel H. Doten, Nathaniel Brown of Plymouth, Thomas 



376 FLY MOUTH MEMORIES 

Russell and Georg-e P. Hayward of Boston, and Richard War- 
ren of New York. Albert Mason was appointed chief 
marshal, and Wm. S. Danforth, treasurer. A finance com- 
mittee was also appointed, and to the committee of arrange- 
ments as managers of the ball, the following honorary man- 
agers were added, Richard Warren of New York, Thomas 
Russell, Wm. G. Russell. James T. Hayward, Benjamin W; 
Harris of Boston, James H. Harlow of Middleboro, James 
H. Mitchell of East Bridgewater, Wm. Savery of Carver, 
Wm. L. Reed of Abington, George W. Wright of Duxbury, 
C. B. H. Fessenden of New Bedford, and Charles F. Swift 
of Yarmouth. The following were selected as floor man- 
agers, Henry G. Parker of Boston, Dwight Faulkner, Fran- 
cis H. Russell, B. M. Watson, Jr., Benjamin O. Strong, Wm. 
P. Stoddard, James D. Thurber, Robert B. Churchill, Ed- 
ward W. Russell and Isaac Damon. 

The committee of arrangements voted to have a public din- 
ned in the Old Colony Railroad station, the use of which had 
been tendered for the purpose, and that L. E. Field of Taun- 
ton be engaged to furnish both the dinner, and the supper 
at the ball. The Standish Guards were invited to perform 
escort duty, as the guests of the Society, and Gilmore's band 
of Boston, and the Plymouth brass band were engaged for the 
occasion. At an early meeting of the trustees of the society 
held before any arrangements had been entered upon, it was 
voted to invite Hon. Robert C. Winthrop to deliver an oration, 
and it was after his acceptance that the plans for the celebra- 
tion were perfected. A large number of guests were invited 
to attend the celebration, including one hundred and twenty- 
two men of distinction, and fourteen historical, and New Eng- 
land Societies, but it is only necessary' to mention those who 
were present. At eleven o'clock a procession was formed at 
Pilgrim Hall, under the direction of Albert Mason, chief 
marshal, assisted by his aids, Capt. Charles C. Doten and 
Major James D. Thurber, and by twelve marshals, and under 
escort of the Standish Guards, and with the music of the 
Plymouth brass band, and Gilmore's band of Boston, marched 
through Court, North and Leyden streets to the First Church. 
As it passed Plymouth Rock a National salute was fired on 
board the U. S. Revenue Cutter Mahoning, Capt. R. A. Fen- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 377 

gar, who was a guest of the society. Seats reserved for ladies 
in the church were occupied previous to the arrival of the pro- 
cession, and seats reserved for the press were occupied by 
representatives of two Plymouth journals, one Abington, one 
Hingham, one North Bridgewater, one Middleboro, one New 
Bedford, one Weymouth, one Yarmouth, one Northampton, 
one Hartford, one Chicago, one Mexico, N. Y., three New 
York, and nine Boston. 

The services in the church were as follows : Voluntan^ 
prayer from "Moses in Egypt," by Gilmore's band, ode, 
"Sons of Renowned Sires" ; scriptures read by Rev. Dr. Fred- 
eric H. Hedge ; hymn ; oration ; prayer, by Rev. Dr. Joseph P. 
Thompson of New York, hymn; benediction, by Rev. Freder- 
ic N. Knapp; voluntary, "Selection from II Trovatore," by 
Gilmore's band. The choir was a double quartette, consist- 
ing of Mrs. Winslow B. Standish and Miss Olive M. Colling- 
wood, sopranos; Mrs. E. W. Atwood and Miss Lina Rich, con- 
traltos; Joseph L. Brown and Dr. Thomas B. Drew, tenors; 
Chas. H. Richardson and James M. Atwood, bassos. 

In arranging for the celebration, Hon. Edward S. Toby, 
president of the Pilgrim Society, stated to the committee that 
he should be necessarily absent during most of the time at the 
dinner, and I, as vice president, consequently presided in his 
place. After my opening address, the following gentlemen 
made speeches : Hon. Edward S. Tobey, Major General O. 
O. Howard, Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Hon. Henry Wilson, 
Hon. George S. Hillard, Hon. John H. Clififord, Rev. Joseph 
P. Thompson, Hon. Charles S. Bradley, Hon. Marshal P. 
Wilder, Hon. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Hon. T. Sterry Hunt, 
and Hon. George T. Davis. Mr. Clifford spoke as chairman 
of the board of overseers of Harvard, Mr. Shurtleff as Mayor 
of Boston, Mr. Bradley as Chief Justice of the Rhode Island 
Supreme Court, and Mr. Hunt as President of the Montreal 
New England Society. Mingled with the speeches, was a 
poem read by Mr. William Everett. In the evening a bril- 
liant ball was held in Davis Hall. 

Hon. Robert Charles Winthrop, son of Thomas Lindall 
and Elizabeth (Bowdoin) Winthrop was born in Boston, May 
12, 1809, and graduated from Harvard in 1828. His father 
was Lieut. Governor of Massachusetts from 1826 to 1833. 



378 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

He studied law with Daniel Webster, and was admitted to 
the Boston bar in 1831. He was a member of the legislature 
from 1835 to 1840, being speaker of the House of Represen- 
tatives the last two years. He was a member of Congress 
from 1840 to 1842, and from 1844 to 1850, serving two years 
as speaker. When Daniel Webster left the Senate to become 
secretary of state in 1850, he was appointed to fill out his 
term. In 185 1 he was the Whig candidate for Governor, and 
though receiving a plurality vote, failed to receive a majority, 
as then required by the law. The election then went to the 
legislature, and George S. Boutwell was chosen. He pub- 
lished the "Life and Letters of Gov. John Winthrop," and de- 
livered many speeches and orations, which have been publish- 
ed in a book form, the most notable of which were his Pilgrim 
oration of Plymouth in 1870, and his oration on the Anni- 
versary of the surrender of Cornwallis in 1881. He died in 
Boston, November 16, 1894. 

Rev. Joseph Parrish Thompson was bom in Philadelphia, 
August 7, 1819, and graduated at Yale in 1838. He became 
pastor of the Chapel street church in New Haven in 1840, and 
from 1845 to 1872 was pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle 
in New York. He was a prolific writer, and in 1856 received 
from Harvard the Degree of Doctor of Divinity, and died in 
Berlin, Sept. 21, 1879. 

Major General Oliver Otis Howard was born in Leeds, 
Me., Nov. 8, 1830, and graduated at Bowdoin in 1850, and 
at West Point in 1854. In 1861 he was Colonel of a Maine 
Regiment, and commanded a brigade at Bull Run. He was 
made a Brigadier General in 1862, and lost his right arm at 
Fair Oaks. After the battle of Antietam he commanded a 
division, and was made Major General of volunteers Nov. 29, 
1862. On the 27th of July, 1864, he took command of the 
army of the Tennessee, and commanded the right wing of 
Sherman's army in his march to the sea. He was appointed 
brigadier general on Dec. 21, 1864, and brevet major general, 
March 13, 1865, and is still living. 

Thomas Sterry Hunt was born in Norwich, Conn., Sep- 
tember 5, 1826, and after studying medicine was in 1845, a 
student in chemistry with Prof. Benjamin Silliman, Jr., in 
New Haven, and later his assistant in the Yale laboratory. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 379 

In 1847 he was made chemist and mineralogist to the geolog- 
ical survey of Canada, and held that position until his resig- 
nation in 1872. After retiring from his position in Canada, 
he succeeded Prof. Wm. B. Rogers in the chair of geology- in 
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He published in 
1874 a volume containing his collected scientific essays, and 
received from Harvard the honorary degree of LL. D., and 
of So. D. from the Universities of Montreal and Quebec. 
He was made a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 
1859, and of the National Academy of the United States in 
1873, receiving also an appointment as officer in the French 
order of the legion of honor. He died in New York, Feb. 
12, 1892. 

Hon. Henry Wilson was born in Farmington, N. H., Feb. 
16, 1812. In 1829 he was authorized by the New Hampshire 
legislature to change his original name of Jones Colbath to 
that by which he was known through his public life. From 
1822 to 1833 he was employed by a farmer in his native town, 
during which time he received only twelve months' schooling. 
About 1833 he walked from Farmington to Natick, Mass., 
where he worked as shoemaker two years, and then return- 
ing to New Hampshire attended the academies at Stafford, 
Wolfeboro and Concord. In 1838 he returned to Natick and 
continuing shoemaking, entered politics in 1840, as a stump 
speaker in behalf of Harrison for President. He was three 
years a representative from Natick, and a state senator in 1850 
and 185 1, and president of the senate. He was a member of the 
state constitutional convention in 1853, and in 1855 was chosen 
U. S. Senator, and by re-election continued in that office until 
he was chosen vice-president of the United States in 1872, 
and died in Washington, Nov. 22, 1875. 

George Stillman Hillard was born in Machias, Me., Sept 
22, 1808, and graduated at Harvard in 1828. He was admit- 
ted to the bar in Boston in 1833, and mingled with his profes- 
sional labors literary pursuits. He was United States Dis- 
trict Attorney from 1867 to 1870, and died in Boston, January 
21, 1879. 

Dr. Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff was bom in Boston, 
June 29, 1810, and graduated at Han-ard in 1831. His father 
bom in Carver, Mass., studied medicine with Dr. James 



380 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Thacher of Plymouth, and settled in Boston. Dr. Nathan- 
iel Bradstreet of Newburyport was a fellow student, and for 
him Dr. Benjamin Shurtlefif named his son. The son aban- 
doned practice and devoted himself to historic pursuits. He 
was a prolific writer, and one of his most important works 
was a topographical History of Boston. He also edited the 
publication of the Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Rec- 
ords, and was mayor of Boston in iy68-'6c)-yo. He died in 
Boston, October 17, 1874. 

The Pilgrim Society uga'm celebrated the anniversary of the 
Landing, on Wednesday the 21st of December, 1880. No at- 
tempt at display was made, and the observance was largely a 
domestic one. A simple service was held in the First Church, 
followed by a dinner in Davis Hall, furnished by George E. 
Patterson of Boston. 

Thomas Russell, president of the Society, presided, and 
speeches were made by Hon. John D. Long, Hon. Alexander 
H. Rice, Hon. Thomas D. EJiot, Rev. Dr. McKensie, General 
Armstrong of Hampton College, President Drehan of Roa- 
noke College, and Rev. Dr. Geo. W. Briggs. The next cele- 
bration held on Monday, December 21, 1885, was of the same 
character. A service was held in the church, and a dinner in 
Davis Hall, at which Thomas Russell, President of the Society 
presided. The other speakers were : Rev. Dr. George E. 
Ellis, James Russell Lowell, Rev. Dr. Henry M. Dexter, Hon. 
Charles L. Woodbury, Hon. Oliver Ames, Rev.- Dr. J. T. Dur- 
yea. Rev. Adoniram J. Gordon, Rev. Dr. Brooke Hereford, 
Justin Winsor and Rev. Dr. A. A. Miner. 

At a meeting of the trustees of the Pilgrim Society held 
March 23, 1889, a committee of twelve was appointed to 
make arrangements for a celebration of the completion of the 
National Monument on the first of August. The committee 
consisted of John D. Long, President of the Society, and Wm. 
T. Davis, Wm. S. Danforth, Charles G. Davis, Wm. H. Nel- 
son, James D. Thurber, Charles C. Doten, James B. Brewster 
Arthur Lord, Daniel E. Damon, Wm. Hedge and Winslow 
Warren. At a town meeting held April 2, the sum of $1,500 
was appropriated in aid of the celebration, and it was voted 
that the Board of selectmen be joined to the committee of 
arrangements in the expenditure of the money. As Mr. Nel- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 38 1 

son and myself were already members of the committee, the 
other three members of the board, Everett F. Sherman, 
Leavitt T. Robbins and Alonzo Warren were added. At a 
meeting- of the committee it was voted as the president would 
be unable to attend its meeting-s, that Wm. T. Davis be ap- 
pointed vice chairman. At a subsequent meeting it was voted 
that the celebration consist of a procession and dinner and ball. 
Hon. W. C. P. Breckinridge of Lexington, Kentucky, was in- 
vited to deliver an oration, and John Boyle O'Reilly of Bos- 
ton to deliver a poem, and both accepted. Myron W. Whit- 
ney was also invited to be a guest of the Society, and to sing 
the ode of Mrs. Heman's. Col. Wm. P. Stoddard was ap- 
pointed Chief Marshal who subsequently appointed Major 
George B. Russell, U. S. A., chief of- staff, and Dr. James B. 
Brewster, Capt. Andrew H. Russell, U. S. A., William H. 
Drew, Dr. W'arren Peirce, Wm. Hedge, Albert E. Davis and 
Elmer E. Sherman, marshals of divisions. Other marshals 
appointed were, George L. Osgood, George Russell Briggs, 
Dr. H. F. Copeland, Arthur Braman, H. L. Hayden, S. L. 
Parks, Isaac S. Brewster, Dr. Edgar D. Hill, Henry A. At- 
wood, Wm. F. Atwood, Capt. James L. Hall, Charles S. 
Davis, Col. Benjamin S. Lovell, Capt. James D. Thurber, D. 
Clifton Freeman, Charles A. Strong, Frank H. Holmes, 
Henry H. Fowler, Edward Manter, Joseph T. CoUingwood, 
John W. Herrick and C. E. Small. 

Other committees were appointed consisting of a commit- 
tee on transportation, committee on decorations, committee 
on fireworks, committee on the dinner, committee of reception 
and committee on the ball, the last consisting of Wm. Hedge, 
George B. Russell, Howland Davis, Thomas Russell, Richard 
H. Morgan, Benjamin M. Watson, Jr., Charles S. Davis, Ed- 
win S. Damon, Alfred S. Burbank, Wm. B. Thurber, Edward 
S. Emery, Henry H. Fowler, Joseph T. CoUingwood, James 
Mullins, George R. Briggs, Harold Whiting and Charles B. 
Stoddard. Invitations were sent to the various Plymouth 
organizations of Masons, Odd Fellows, Standish Guards, 
Good Fellows, Pilgrim Fathers, Iron Hall, Good Templars, 
Royal Arcanum and the Fire Department, and liberal appro- 
priations were made by the committee to enable them to en- 
tertain guests. The Independent Corps of Cadets of Boston 



382 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

and Battery A of Boston were invited to participate in the 
parade and accepted. A contract was made with A. Erickson 
of Boston for a tent two hundred and fifty feet long and 
eighty feet wide, which was pitched in the meadow between 
the house of Mrs. J. R. Lothrop and Water street, and ar- 
rangements were made with Harve}^ Blunt of Boston and 
David H. Maynard of Plymouth to furnish the dinner, and 
also the supper for the ball. It is unnecessary to mention 
the various associations and guests invited by the committee, 
but, including Masonic bodies, Odd Fellows, Military Com- 
panies and associations and individuals, they numbered about 
one hundred and fifty. It was arranged that a salute should 
be fired by Battery A at six o'clock a. m., and that at 9.30 a. 
m. the M. W. Grand Lodge should dedicate the monument, 
and that at 11 o'clock the procession should proceed through 
Court, Allerton, Cushman, Court, North, Water, Ley- 
den, Market, Summer, High, Russell, Court, Brewster, 
Water, North, Main, Market, Pleasant, South Sandwich 
and Water, streets to the tent. From three to five 
o'clock it was arranged to have concerts in Shirley 
Square by the Lynn Cadet Band, on Training Green by the 
Plymouth Rock Band, on Cole's Hill by the Silver Fife and 
Drum Corps, and on the Samoset lawn by Lindall's band. 
The fireworks were planned for Monument hill, an electric il- 
lumination of the Monument, and a concert in Shirley Square 
from nine to ten by the Plymouth Band. With a ball in the 
Armory with music furnished by the Germania Band of Bos- 
ton, seventeen pieces, the festivities were to close. 

The order of the procession is too long to include in this 
narrative. It is sufficient to say that it included three com- 
panies of Infantry, Battery A, twelve bands, five Grand Army 
Posts, delegations from ten societies and associations, five 
commanderies of Masons, ten Masonic Lodges, two Encamp- 
ments of Odd Fellows, six lodges of Odd Fellows, and three 
Fire Departments. It was planned that the seventh division 
of the procession, composed of five hundred school children, 
should be seated on the slope of Cole's Hill, and join in sing- 
ing appropriate hynms, while the procession passed. 

The dinner tent holding two thousand, was full to the last 
seat. Governor John D. Long, the president of the Pilgrim 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 383 

Society, had on his right Lieut. Governor Brackett, Adjt. 
General Samuel Dalton, John Boyle O'Reilly, Grand Master 
Henry Endicott, Hon. Wm. Cogswell, Hon. Frederic T. 
Greenhalge, Hon. Charles S. Randall, Hon. Wm. G. Russell, 
Hon. Wirt Dexter, Wm. T. Davis and Myron W. Whitney, 
Esq., and on his left, Hon. W. C. P. Breckinridge, Hon. Geo. 
F. Hoar, Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge, Hon. John W. Cand- 
ler, Hon. Elijah A. Morse, Hon. Henry B. Pierce, Hon. Wm. 
W. Crapo, Roland Mather, Esq., Rev. Joseph H. Twichell of 
Hartford, Hon. William E. Barrett and Hon. Charles F. 
Choate. Among others seated on the platform were the 
Mayor of Boston, the Mayor of Brockton, the chairmen of 
the Boards of Selectmen of Plymouth, Kingston, Du.xbury 
and Plympton, Rev. Samuel Hopkins Emery of Taunton, 
Hon. Stephen Salisbury of Worcester, Hon. John VV'inslow of 
Brooklyn, Justin Winsor, Abner C. Goodell, Samuel C. Cobb, 
Hon. John E. Russell, Hon. Albert Mason, Prof. Lemuel 
Stephens, Prof. E. N. Horsford, Lt. Col. Thomas F. Ed- 
munds, Major Dexter H. FoUett, Lt. Frederick L Clayton, 
Francis Bartlett, Esq., and Rev. Charles P. Lombard. A 
blessing was asked by "Sir. Lombard, and after an opening 
address by Hon. John D. Long, President of the Pilgrim So- 
ciety, the oration by Mr. Breckinridge, and the poem by John 
Boyle O'Reilly followed. After the poem an address of wel- 
come was made by myself, which was followed by speeches by 
Lt. Gov. J. Q. A. Brackett, Hon. George F. Hoar, Hon. Henry 
Cabot Lodge, Hon. Wm. Cogswell, Hon Elijah A. Morse, 
Hon. Frederick T. Greenhalge, and by the singing of "Break- 
ing Waves Dashed High" by Myron W. Whitney, Esq., and 
by a musical selection rendered by the Temple Quartette Club 
of Boston. The decorations along the route of the procession 
exceeded in appropriateness and good taste any ever before 
seen in Plymouth, and the five arches on Court, North, Ley- 
den, Summer and Pleasant streets were pronounced by com- 
petent critics as models in proportion and adornment. The 
press was represented on the occasion by two members from 
Plymouth, one from Brockton, one from Burlington, Vt., one 
from Troy, ten from Boston, five from New York, and by the 
Associated Press. The number of visitors was estimated at 
fifteen thousand, and as compared with the celebrations of 



384 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

1853 and 1859, was from three to five thousand larger than 
that at either. 

In writing chapters of Plymouth memories it seems un- 
necessary to include a celebration as recent as that in 1895, 
but a complete record of the observances conducted by the 
Pilgrim Society mav aid future historic explorers and writ- 
ers. In the above year the Society held its celebration on the 
2 1st of December. Arthur Lord was then President of the 
Society, and he and Wm. T. Davis, James D. Thurber, Wm. 
S. Danforth, Charles C. Doten, Charles B. Stoddard and Gid- 
eon F. Holmes, were appointed a committee of arrangements. 
Col. Wm. P. Stoddard was appointed Chief Marshal, with 
Winslow B. Standish and Wm. Hedge as aids, and a com- 
mittee on the ball was appointed, consisting of Edgar D. Hill, 
Charles A. Strong, James Spooner, Henr\^ J. W. Drew, Al- 
fred S. Burbank, W. C. Butler, A. E. Lewis and E. A. Dun- 
ton. Hon. Geo. F. Hoai and Richard Henry Stoddard, who 
liad been invited to deliver respectively an oration and poem, 
accepted their invitations. The Society met at Pilgrim Hall, 
and with the orator and poet and invited guests proceeded to 
the Armory, where exercises were held, consisting of an over- 
ture by the Plymouth Band, anthem by the Plymouth Musi- 
cal Club, prayer by Rev. Charles P. Lombard, ode, "Sons of 
Renowned Sires," poem by Richard Henry Stoddard, ode, 
"Breaking Waves Dashed High," sung by Myron W. Whit- 
ney, oration by Hon. Geo. F. Hoar, ode, "The Pilgrim Fath- 
ers Where are Thev," benediction bv Rev. Ernest W. Shurt- 
leflf. 

The trustees of the Society, with the chief marshal and aids 
and members of committees and guests dined at the Samoset 
House, where speeches were made by Lt. Gov. Roger Wolcott, 
Hon. Winslow Warren, Hon. Samuel R. Thayer, and Hon. 
Robert S. Rantoul, and the dinner closed with a song sung by 
Myron W. Whitney. 

In addition to the above the anniversary of the Landing 
was celebrated by the Plymouth Fire Department, Dec. 21, 
1886. by a procession, dinner and a ball, at which the Boston 
Cadet band furnished the music. John C. Cave and Henry 
Harlow were chairman and secretary of the committee of ar- 
rangements, and I was invited to preside. After my address 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 385 

Speeches were made by Chas. H. Howland, Chas. G. Davis, 
Rev. F. N. Knapp, Rev. W. P. Burnell, Daniel E. Damon, 
Albert E. Davis^ Wm. H. Nelson. James Morton, John C. 
Ross, Edward B. At wood. Other celebrations not already 
mentioned in these memories have been the following-, of 
which I have space for only superficial notices. The Fourth 
of July, 1825, was celebrated by the citizens of Plymouth. 
Hon. Wm. Davis presided, assisted by Joseph Thomas, Coom- 
er Weston, Pelham W. Warren, Bridgham Russell, Joseph 
Allen, and Samuel Doten, vice presidents, and an oration was 
delivered in the First Church by Wm. Thomas, Esq., of Plym- 
outh. In 1826 the Fourth of July was again celebrated. 
Hon. John Thomas of Kingston presided, and an oration was 
delivered by Hon. Charles Henry Warren of New Bedford, 
a native of Plymouth. A ball in Pilgrim Hall closed the ob- 
servance of the day. The Fourth of July, 1828, was again 
celebrated by citizens, with Hon. Nathaniel M. Davis presi- 
dent of the day, assisted by Nathan Hayward, Ezra Finney, 
Abraham Jackson, Isaac L. Hedge, James G. Gleason of 
Plymouth and Jonathan Parker of Plympton. Hon. John 
A. Shaw of Bridgewater delivered an oration, and a dinner 
and ball were held in Pilgrim Hall. In 1832 Washington's 
birthday was celebrated with an oration by Hon. Solomon 
Lincoln of Hingham. Capt. Samuel Doten was chief mar- 
shal, and Hon. Isaac L. Hedge was president of the day, as- 
sisted by Jacob H. Loud, Nathaniel Wood, Thos. Paty and 
John Bartlett as vice presidents. In 1865, Independence day 
was celebrated by the citizens, the features of the celebration 
being morning salutes, the ringing of bells, and a march of the 
ancient and horribles, followed by a procession, and an ora- 
tion by Rev. George H. Hepworth of Boston. Hon. Jacob 
H. Loud presided, and Thomas Loring was chief marshal, as- 
sisted by John T. Stoddard and Albert Hedge as aids, and 
Barnabas Hedge, George G. Dyer. Thomas Pierce, Warren 
Macomber, Frederic W. Robbins, Charles Burton, George L. 
Baxter, B. H. Holmes, T. B. Atwood, Aaron Cornish, Gus- 
tavus D. Bates and Nathaniel C. Lanman, marshals. Among 
the features of the procession were the Plymouth Lodge of 
Masons, the Mayflower Lodge of Odd Fellows, a car of lib- 
ertv, and the army and navy, represented by Ignatius Pierce, 



386 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Jr., M. A. Diaz, Jr., Wm. W. Brewster and Herbert Morissey, 
and five hundred public school scholars. The services were 
held on the grounds of the Samoset House, and at their close 
the scholars enjoyed a collation at Goddard's grove, the gen- 
eral public in Samoset house orchard, the Odd Fellows at Pil- 
grim Hall, and the Masons at the Winslow House on Wins- 
low street. 

On the 9th of July, 1869, the dedication of the Soldiers' 
monument on Training Green, was celebrated under the di- 
rection of the Soldiers' Monument Association. As Presi- 
dent of the Association I presided at the ceremonies. A large 
tent was erected around and over the monument, and there 
after my own address, an oration was delivered by Hon. Josh- 
ua L,. Chamberlain of Maine. Hon. John Morissey was chief 
marshal, assisted by Albert Mason and Charles PI. Drew as 
aids, and the follovv'ing marshals of divisions, Charles Ray- 
mond, James D. Thurber, Charles B. Stoddard, Alvin Finney, 
Henry W. Loring, Thomas B. Atwood, assisted by Wm. E. 
Barnes, Elkanah C. Finney, Stephen C. Drew, B. A. Hath- 
away, George Finney, Charles Mason, J. Frank Churchill, A. 
Merritt Shaw, Robert B. Churchill and Alexander Atwood, 
Among the invited guests present were : Governor Claflin of 
Massachusetts, Governor Stearns of New Hampshire, Lt. Gov. 
Tucker of Massachusetts, Hon. James Buffington, Thos. Rus- 
sell, General Benham and members of the executive council. 
Among the associations were Collingwood Post G. A. R., the 
McPherson Post, the Old Colony Encampment of K. T., the 
Samoset Chapter of Masons, the Mayflower Lodge of Odd 
Fellows, the Bay State Lodge of Lvnn, the Palestine Encamp- 
ment of Lynn, and the Fire Department. The Standish 
Guards and the Bay State Guards of Carver performed es- 
cort, and the music was furnished by the North Bridgewater 
Band, the Weymouth Band, the Abington Band, the Lynn 
Band, and the Plvmouth Band. 

The reception at Plymouth of Louis Kossuth, May 12, 1852, 
though not a celebration, may properly be recorded here. The 
committee of arrangements were Capt. John Russell, Andrew 
L. Russell, E. C. Sherman and Moses Bates, and Mr. Bates 
presided with John D. Churchill, chief marshal. At a dinner 
at the Samoset House, after the address made bv Kossuth in 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 387 

the First Church, speeches were made by Mr, Bates, Gov. 
George S. Boutwell, Stephen H. Phillips, and by M. Pulzzly 
and M. Kocielski. 

There was a celebration in 1849, which though not a public 
one, I may be permitted to include in my narrative. A party 
of gentlemen, all of whom were special friends of Daniel 
Webster, came to Plymouth and dined at the Samoset on the 
anniversary' of the departure of the Pilgrims from Old Plym- 
outh. The departure occurred on the i6th of September, but 
as that day in 1849 fell on Sunday, Monday was the day of 
the dinner. The dinner was proposed by Mr. Webster, and 
he presided. The occasion was a memorable one, including 
among its guests leading professional and business men of 
Boston, New York, Providence and New Bedford. At that 
time T was living in Boston, and through the kindness of my 
uncle, Chas. Henry Warren, who made up the party, I at- 
tended the dinner, the youngest man at the table, and now the 
only one living. Such men as Josiah Quincy, Rufus Choate, 
Edward Everett, John H. Clififord, George S. Hillard, Ben- 
jamin R. Curtis, Sidney Bartlett and Nathan Appleton were 
there renewing allegiance to him from whom some had been 
alienated by his patriotic refusal to leave the cabinet of John 
Tyler, and others by his reluctant support of the nomination 
of Zachary Taylor for the presidency. Mr. Webster's speech 
was eloquent and pathetic, feeling as he did, with the increas- 
ing infirmities of age, that it might be the last time he should 
address those who had put their trust in him, and on whom he 
had leaned for support. It was my privilege to hear Mr. 
Webster probably more times than any man now living, and 
of the thirteen speeches I have heard from his lips, this was 
the most tender and eloquent. Nathaniel P. Willis, in a let- 
ter to his journal in New York said in describing it, that, "it 
was the most beautiful example of manly pathos of which lan- 
guage and looks could be capable. No one who heard it 
could doubt the existence of a deep well of tears under that 
lofty temple of intellect and power." 

Before closing the account of celebrations I ought to say 
that the old Standish Guards, which was organized in 1818, 
made its first public parade as an escort to the procession on 
the 22d of December in the above year. They continued to 



388 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

perform escort duty at the Pilgrim celebrations until they 
were disbanded in 1883. After the change was made in 
1870 of the celebrations from the 22d to the 21st of December, 
the company continued its celebration, not of the anniversary 
of the Landing, but of the anniversary of the company's first 
public parade. From 1883 to 1888, there was no military 
company in Plymouth, but in the latter year the present com- 
pany was chartered, not as Co. B, third Regiment, Hke the old 
company, but as Co. D, 5th Regiment, having no more connec- 
tion with the old Standish Guards than the present Old Colony 
Club on Court street has with the Old Colony Club which was 
organized in 1768, and went out of existence at the beginning of 
the Revolution. There .'^eems, therefore, to be no reason why 
the present company should keep up the observance of a day 
with which it has no connection, as the 22d of December is 
neither the anniversary of the landing, nor of its first public 
parade, which occurred in 1888, and not in 1818. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 389 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

In my memories of the Civil War I shall confine myself as 
closely as possible to events which I saw, and in an humble 
way, a part of which I was. When on the i8th of April, 
1861, the train bearing- the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment to 
Washinsrton, halted at the Trenton station in New Jersey, the 
Governor of that state walking in a thoughtful mood up and 
down the platform, was asked by a friend, what he was think- 
ing about. He replied, "I am thinking about that damned 
little state of Massachusetts. Here she is two days after the 
call for troops, with seven states between her and Washing- 
ton, half way to that city with a full regiment armed and 
equipped, bearing the first relief to our beleagued capital. 
How could she do it?" My answer to the Governor's ques- 
tion is that Massachusetts had an executive who knew how to 
do things, and a people accustomed to take the initiative in 
important emergencies. Governor John A. Andrew was in- 
augurated on the 5th of January, 1861, and before he slept 
that night he despatched confidential messages to the Gover- 
nors of the other New England states urging preparations 
for the crisis, which he believed to be impending. Realizing 
also that the 8th of January would be the anniversary of An- 
drew Jackson's victory in the battle of New Orleans, though 
Massachusetts had not been in the habit of celebrating that 
day, he seized the opportunity to arouse the spirit of patriot- 
ism among the people and ordered a hundred guns to be fired 
on the noon of the 8th on Boston Common, and national sa- 
lutes to be fired in Charlestown, Lexington, Concord, Wal- 
tham, Roxbury, Marblehead, Newburyport, Salem, Groton, 
Lynn, Worcester, Greenfield, Northampton, Fall River and 
Lowell. The guns fired on that day were the first guns of 
the war, and, as a note of defiance to South Carolina, which 
had voted itself out of the Union, they sent a thrill through 
every loyal heart, and turned the minds of the people into 
channels to be gradually familiarized with thoughts of war. 
On the i6th of January, eleven days after the inauguration, 
he directed the promulgation of an order requiring the com- 



39° PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

manders of all volunteer militia companies to take immediate 
steps to fill their ranks with men ready to respond to the call 
of the commander-in-chief, discharging any who were not so 
ready, and supplying their places with those who were. At 
a later date the Governor by contracts afterwards confirmed 
by the legislature, ordered six thousand yards of cloth, a yard 
and a half wide at $1.37 per yard, two thousand military over- 
coats at $2.15 each, two thousand knapsacks of the army pat- 
tern at $1.88 each, one thousand pairs of blankets at $3.75 a 
pair, two thousand haversacks at 75 cents each, coat buttons 
costing $740, two hundred thousand ball cartridges at $14 a 
thousand, and three hundred thousand percussion caps. The 
legislature adjourned on the nth of April, having appro- 
priated one hundred thousand dollars as an emergency fund, 
twenty-five thousand dollars for overcoats and equipage, and 
having so far amended the existing militia law which limited 
the active militia to five thousand men, as to give the Gover- 
nor authority to organize as many companies and regiments 
as the public exigency might require. Such, your Excel- 
lency, the Governor of New Jersey, was the condition of 
Massachusetts, when the first call for troops was made on the 
15th of April, and thus is your question answered. Massa- 
chusetts was ready with her toe on the line when the call to 
arms was sounded. 

On the 15th of April, Company B, 3rd Regiment, the Stand- 
ish Guards of Plymouth, was without a captain. Charles C. 
Doten, 1st Lieutenant in command, was at that time in 
charge of the telegraph ofiice, in the rooms now occupied by 
Mr. Loiipg's watchmakcr's-shop on Main street. In the early 
evening of that dav he received a despatch from David W. 
Wardrop of New Bedford, Colonel of the Third Regiment, 
ordering him to report with his company to him on Boston 
Common the next forenoon. A messenger bearing an of- 
ficial order reached Plymouth during the night. The news 
of the order spread like the wind through every street, and 
into every house and home. The excitement was intense. 
Every store was vacated by its loungers, every meeting was 
dissolved, and every familv circle gathered around the even- 
ing lamp was broken u]), and the armory of the Guards in 
Union Building on the corner of Main and Middle streets, be- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 39I 

came at once the meetinj^^ place of the citizens. One after 
another of the members of the company who were accessible, 
reported himself, every man ready to respond to the call. As 
chairman of the Board of Selectmen I gave the men assur- 
ances, which were reinforced by prominent citizens, that their 
families would be provided for during their absence, and leady 
hands were offered to take up and finish any work which they 
might leave uncompleted. The call was for three months' 
service, and at nine o'clock the next morning nineteen mem- 
bers of the Company marched to the station, escorted by a 
large procession of citizens, and embarked for Boston. With 
the addition of two members joining at Abington, and two 
others joining in Boston, the company was quartered that 
night in the hall over the Old Colony Railroad station, and 
Wednesday morning received nineteen recruits from Plym- 
outh. In the afternoon of that day the Company embarked 
on the steamer S. R. Spaulding, which hauled into the stream, 
and anchored for the night. After the steamer had left the 
wharf, seventeen additional recruits reached Boston, and 
quartering in Faneuil Hall, joined their comrades aboard ship 
on Thursday morning. On Thursday the i8th, the steamer 
sailed for Fortress Monroe with sixty men in the ranks of the 
company. 

I do not propose at this stage of my memories to follow the 
Plymouth soldiers to the front, but shall at a later point in my 
narrative include a list of their names, and as far as possible 
an account of their services in the field. While in Boston 
with the Plvmouth Company, I offered to the Governor on 
Wednesday in behalf of the Plymouth bank, of which I was 
President, the use of twenty thousand dollars as a contribu- 
tion to an emergency fund to meet expenditures which must 
at once be made. I have every reason to believe that this 
was the first contribution made by the banks of Massachusetts 
to a fund, which when an extra session of the legislature con- 
vened on the 14th of May, had reached the sum of thirty-six 
hundred thousand dollars. This fund was necessary, as 

when the extra session met the amount of the emergency fund 
provided for at the regular session, had been exceeded by ex- 
penditures and liabilities by the sum of four hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars. On my return home the Selectmen 



392 FLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

called an informal meeting- of the citizens to meet on the af- 
ternoon of Saturday the 20th to consider ways and means to 
provide for the families of the soldiers. At that meeting it 
was voted, "That the Selectmen be requested to apply and dis- 
tribute at their discretion a sum not exceeding $2,000 to- 
wards the assistance of those families who by the sudden de- 
parture of the troops are left in need of pecuniary aid — such 
sum to be raised in the name of the town, or in such other way 
as the Selectmen shall deem expedient." 

On Wednesday, April 24th, I was in Philadelphia, and after 
concluding the business which had called me there, I made up 
my mind that if possible I would run on to Washington. Gen- 
eral Butler had left Philadelphia on Saturday the 20th, and at 
Perryville on the north bank of the Susquehanna River, had 
with the 8th Massachusetts Regiment embarked on board the 
ferry boat Maryland for Annapolis, as the railroad between 
the river and Baltimore had been obstructed, and the bridges 
burned. The 7th New York Regiment, at the same time 
took the steamer Boston at Philadelphia and started for Annar- 
polis by the way of the Delaware river and the sea. Going 
to the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore station in 
Broad street, I asked Mr. Felton, the President of the road, 
if it were possible to reach Washington. He told me that 
there was no communication by rail or wire with any point 
south of the Susquehanna, and that nothing was known of 
the movements of the Maryland since she left Perryville on 
the previous Saturday. He said that Major T. W. Sher- 
man's Battery was at Elkton on the line of the road awaiting 
an opportunity to go to Washington, and that when the Mary- 
land returned from Annapolis he should despatch a train, with 
the view of following in the wake of Gen. Butler. After 
waiting in his ofifice an hour or two, he told me that the boat 
had arrived, and that he should start a train for Perryville at 
four o'clock. At that hour the train started, made up of a 
single passenger car, a combination car, and a platform car, 
carrying two guns protected by a portholed sheet iron case- 
mate. There were only three or four on board, and not wish- 
ing to be discommoded by impedimenta on a somewhat doubt- 
ful excursion, I left my valise at the hotel. Arriving at Per- 
ryville in the early evening with the Battery which we found 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 393 

waiting- at Elkton, we embarked on the Maryland for the trip 
down the Susquehanna River and Chespeake Bay outside of 
Baltimore to Annapolis, which we reached about midnig-ht. 
On our way we passed over the anchorage ground where 
Francis Scott Key, while a prisoner on board of a British man 
of war in the war of 1812, witnessed the bombardment of 
Fort McHenry, and wrote the "Star Spangled Banner." As 
we sailed over the spot the Batterv men gathered on deck and 
sang the song with the very scene in view which had original- 
ly inspired it. Lying at the entrance of Annapolis harbor 
until we had communicated by rockets with the town, wc fin- 
ally reached the wharf, passing the frigate Constitution on the 
way, which with sails bent by members of the Marblchead 
companies in the eighth regiment was about to be taken for 
safety to New York, manned with the Marblchead men. At 
Annapolis we learned that when General Butler arrived with 
the 8th Massachusetts, the rebels had torn up the track of the 
branch road connecting Annapolis with the Baltimore and 
Washington railroad, and disabled the locomotives. But the 
General was equal to the emergency, and with mechanics in 
his command he relaid the track, with machinists also in the 
ranks he repaired the locomotives, and also with his Marble- 
head soldiers he bent sails on the Constitution. The day be- 
fore he had marched on to the junction, and was then with 
the 7th New York artillery at the junction, or in Washington. 
We arrived in Washington about daylight on Thursday 
morning, the 25th, and while registering my name at Wil- 
lard's hotel, I heard the cry of fire, and going out found a 
fire well started in a building on the avenue next to the hotel. 
The eflforts of the firemen seemed to be unavailing, with lad- 
ders too short, and no means of reaching the roof of the build- 
ing. Directly cheers and the rattle of wheels were heard up 
the avenue, and the Ellsworth Zouaves appeared on the scene. 
They were quartered in the Capitol, and hearing the alarm had 
jumped out of the windows, and breaking open an unused en- 
gine house in which was stored an old engine, they dragged 
the machine down the avenue at a double quick, and were at 
once the chief actors in the scene. They were nearly all New 
York firemen, and hence were called the Fire Zouaves, and 
shinning up the water spouts they were soon on the roof, 



394 FLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

where I saw two of them hang- a comrade by his legs over the 
eaves so that he could reach the hose held by a ladderman, 
and be pulled up with it to the flat roof above. What was 
mere play for them was done in the presence of a cheering 
crowd, and the fire was soon extinguished. 

There were then four Regiments in Washington, the Sixth 
Massachusetts, the Ellsworth Fire Zouaves, the Seventh Reg- 
iment of New York and the First Rhode Island commanded 
by Colonel Ambrose E. Burnside. The two first were in the 
capitol, the Rhode Island Regiment was quartered in one of 
the public buildings, and the Seventh Regiment was encamp- 
ed. All of these Regiments, except the 6th Massachusetts, 
had reached Annapolis by the sea, and the 8th Massachusetts 
Regiment was still encamped between Annapolis Junction and 
Washington. I called on Col. Jones of the Sixth, and visit- 
ed the quarters of the other regiments. The tale told by 
Col. Jones of his passage through Baltimore, and his recep- 
tion in Washington, was pathetic, indeed, and aroused a feel- 
ing of pride in my state, which I had never so completed ex- 
perienced before. This feeling was intensified by the tales 
told me by men of Washington who with tears in their eyes 
described the march up the avenue of the regiment on the 
nineteenth, and the sudden transformation from despair to 
hope, from despondency to joy, from the fear of the capture 
of the city to an assurance of its safety, the tale always ending 
with the exclamation, "God Bless old Massachusetts." Wher- 
ever it was known, whence and how I came to Washington, I 
found everything wide open. In the evening I returned to 
Annapolis, and so on to Philadelphia, and reached home on 
Saturday. 

After my return the Selectmen issued a warrant for a town 
meeting to be held on the nth of May to further provide for 
soldiers' families, and to appropriate money for uniforms and 
equipments. At that meeting it was voted to confirm the 
vote passed at the informal meeting on the 20th of April, and 
in addition it was voted to pay six dollars per month to each 
soldier with a family, who shall enlist for the war, and four 
dollars per month to each unmarried soldier during the term 
of one year from the first of May. It was also voted to ap- 
propriate $1,500 for equipping volunteers for three years' 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 395 

service, who might be citizens of Plymouth. At the special 
session of the le,8:isiature convened on the 14th of May, the 
state adopted the monthly pay to the soldiers, and it became 
henceforth what was called state aid. Before the 6th of May 
Samuel H. Doten had been authorized to recruit a company 
for three years' service, and had promptly enrolled sixtv-seven 
men, including^ himself, whose enlistment papers bore the 
above date. By authority of the Selectmen, acting under the 
vote of the town, passed on the nth of May, the ladies of 
the town at once bought materials, and in Leyden Hall, met 
daily for the purpose of making- uniforms. The company was 
equipped at an expense of $1,025.49, and on the i8th of May 
left for Boston. They marched directly to the State House, 
where they were drawn up in Mt. Vernon street some hours 
awaiting acceptance, and a supply of muskets and equipments, 
including overcoats, blankets, knapsacks, and haversacks. The 
acceptance of the company was delayed by the interference of 
Hon. Henry Wilson, who had arrived that morning from 
Washington, and was urging upon the Governor a stoppage 
of enlistments. When 1 went to the Governor's room to re- 
port the arrival of the company, I met Mr. Wilson at the door, 
and he said, "Davis, carry your company home, we have got 
all the men we want, and more, too;" but notwithstanding 
he was chairman of the committee on Military Affairs on the 
part of the United States Senate, Governor Andrew disre- 
garded his opinion, and finally in due form accepted the com- 
pany and ordered the necessary arms and equipments. On 
the I St of January, 1861, the state owned ten thousand ser- 
viceable muskets and twenty-five hundred Springfield rifles, 
and after ineffectual efforts of myself and Capt. Doten, to se- 
cure the rifles, the company was obliged to take up with tlv: 
inferior arms. On that afternoon, the i8th of May. the com- 
pany went on board the steamer Cambridge, and sailed for 
Fortress Monroe, where it was attached to the Third Regiment 
during that Regiment's three months' service. 

After the departure of the Standish Guards, Plymouth was 
left without a militar>' company, and to meet any possible 
emergency it was thought advisable to organize a Home 
Guard. Its ranks were at once filled, and meetings were held 
for drill in Davis Hall, which continued for several months. 



396 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Nathaniel Brown, who in eariier days was skilled as a drill 
master in the volunteer militia, was chosen captain, and I 
held the position of ist Lieutenant. As chairman of the 
Board of Selectmen I urg-ed the formation of the company, 
believing' that it would serve as a preparatory school for mili- 
tary instruction; which would in due time develop a military 
spirit, and promote enlistments. Such proved to be the effect 
of the organization as of those who were at various times its 
members, nearly all joined the army. 

At the time of which I am speaking wage earners in Plym- 
outh found little to do, and the monthly pay to soldiers' fami- 
lies was proving inadequate to meet their necessities. The 
wives and mothers of the soldiers were anxious to add to their 
means of support if work could be furnished themx. In or- 
der to do what I could to help them I made arrangements with 
a clothing house in Boston to send me such quantities of cut 
out clothing as they were able, which was eagerly taken and 
made up, and sent back to Boston. For some weeks my 
house looked like a clothing store, with cases packing and 
unpacking, and applicants for work coming and going with 
bundles of garments either cut out or made up. 

In the last week of May, Governor Andrew asked me to 
visit the Massachusetts soldiers at their various camps, and re- 
port to him in writing concerning their condition and needs, 
and any complaints they might make of their treatm.ent in the 
service. These troops consisted of the 3rd, 4th, 6th and 8th 
Massachusetts Regiments, already referred to, to which the 
5th Regiment, Cook's Battery and the Third Battalion of 
Rifles had been added. 

On the 4th of March, 1861, the day of the inauguration of 
President Lincoln, the government was without money and 
without credit. Howell Cobb of Georgia, secretary of the 
treasury, under Buchanan, had before resigning looted the 
treasury, and placing about six millions where it could be 
used by the projected Confederacy, had left the government 
chest with not enough money to pay for a single day's supply 
of stationery. John B. Floyd of Virginia, secretary of war, 
had before resigning, disarmed as far as possible the free 
states, transferring from the arsenals at Springfield, Mass., 
and Watervliet, New York, to arsenals in the slave states, one 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



397 



hundred and fifteen thousand arms, and a large amount of 
cannon, mortars, balls, powder and shells. Isaac Toucey of 
Connecticut, secretary of the navy, a northern man with south- 
em principles, had perfonned his part of the great conspir- 
acy, by so dispersing the national war vessels as to render 
them ineffective in the hands of the government. Of a fleet 
of ninety vessels, carrying 2,415 guns, five were sent to the 
East Indies ; three to Brazil ; seven to the Pacific ; three to the 
Mediterranean, and seven to the coast of Africa, leaving, be- 
sides dismantled ships, only two, the steamer Brooklyn, 25 
guns, and the storeship Relief, two guns, in northern ports. 
These men should not have been permitted to escape punish- 
ment, not because they became secessionists, but because, while 
holding office under a government which they had sworn to 
support, they had been guiltv of treason. 

The well laid plan of the Confederates was to first weaken 
the hands of the government while strengthening their own, 
and then as soon as Sumter fell to seize Harper's Ferry, 
Washington and Fortress Monroe, the three outposts of the 
slave states, and to hold them against any forces which the 
north might be able to raise in time for their recovery. But 
they calculated without their host. They failed to take into 
account the rapidity with which Yankees act in an emergency, 
and they believed that before the militia of the north could 
be prepared to move, their own initiatory steps would have 
been successfully taken. They little thought that within five 
days after the fall of Sumter the state of Massachusetts would 
occupy Fortress Monroe with two regiments, and Washing- 
ton with two more. 

In the early movements of the government the depleted 
state of the treasury made it necessary to seek the aid of the 
states in carrying on the war. The first attempt to raise 
monev bv a loan resulted in bids from bankers running from 
85 to 40 for six per cent, bonds, all of which were rejected. 
In this emergency Massachusetts as usual came to the front, 
and buying two steamboats, the Cambridge and Pembroke, 
kept them busy for many weeks in transporting from Boston 
to Annapolis, Fortress Monroe and Washington soldiers, pro- 
visions and camp equipage. As the rebel batteries on the 
Potomac rendered for some time a passage to Washington by 



39^ PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

the river impracticable, at first the trips of these steamers were 
chiefly confined to Fortress Monroe. As the Cambridge was 
to sail on Friday, May 31, for the Fortress, Governor An- 
drew asked me to go out in her and visit the Massachusetts 
troops there, and if practicable in the neighborhood of Wash- 
ington, also, and as already stated, report to him their condi- 
tion, sanitary and otherwise, with the view of allaying the 
anxieties of soldiers' families from whom he had received 
earnest inquiries. With Hon. John Morissey as a companion, 
I left Boston at 4 o'clock, Friday afternoon, having also as 
fellow passengers. General Ebenezer W. Pierce, with the mem- 
bers of his staff, one of whom was Col. Wm. C. Lovering, our 
present member of Congress. There were on board twenty 
carpenters and twenty-nine sappers and miners, and our car- 
go consisted of lumber, provisions and camp equipage of va- 
rious kinds. During the trip I spent much of my time in the 
pilot house, and having kept a pretty close run of our courses 
and distances, by a sort of instinct, I guessed from time to 
time our position. About eight o'clock on Sunday evening, 
while smoking my cigar in the pilot house, I said to Capt. 
Matthews, "You, of course, know your own business better 
than a landsman, but it seems to me that if you keep on this 
course much longer you will go ashore." His smile indicated 
that he did not think much of a landsman's reckoning, and 
not long after I went below and turned in. I was soon awak- 
ened by the stoppage of the engine, and directly a steward 
rapped at my door and said that the steamer was ashore, and 
the captain wanted all hands on deck. On reaching the deck 
I found the propellor churning the water with a full back, 
without any movement of the vessel. The two howitzers, 
which had been on the forward deck, had been moved aft, and 
all hands were jumping. It was fortunately a dead calm, 
with scarcely a ripple on the shore, and after a while we suc- 
ceeded in backing into deep water. We had crossed a sand 
bar just rubbing it, as we went, and had gone onto Hog Isl- 
and twenty-five or thirty miles north of Cape Charles. Af- 
ter sending out a boat to sound a passage for recrossing the 
bar, we reached about daylight the open sea, and were on our 
way to the Fortress which we reached about ten o'clock Mon- 
day forenoon. Some excuse may be found for the blunder 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



399 



of the captain, in the fact tliat all the lio^hts from Maryland 
to Texas, except those at Key West, Tortugas and Rosas 
Island, had been put out by the rebels, and possibly there may 
have been a current setting- to the north at that time. I be- 
lieve, however, that in navigation, as in many other matters, 
there is something in instinct, or what you feel in your bones, 
as old women say, which should not be disregarded. 

When we landed at the Fortress, some of the Plymouth 
boys were on the wharf expecting boxes from home, and they 
were, of course, glad to see us. We loaded them down with 
packages, of which a box of tea was the most prized, as tea 
was not included in the regular rations. The Fortress is sur- 
rounded by a moat, which is crossed by four bridges. En- 
tering the main gate after crossing the bridge leading to it, I 
found myself in an area about seventy acres in extent, with 
casemates on the right, barracks on the left, a parade ground 
of about seven acres in the centre, and in the distance a two 
story brick building, the headquarters of General B. F. But- 
ler, who was the commander at the post. Calling at once on 
the General, with whom 1 was intimate, having been with him 
in the senate two years before, he received us with courtesy, 
and invited us to make his house our home as long as we re- 
mained at the Fortress. He introduced us to his nephew, 
Capt. John Butler, and Major Haggerty, members of his staff, 
and to his military secretary, Major Theodore Winthrop, the 
last of whom was our constant companion during our visit. 
He and I seemed to have found our affinities, and I do not 
think on so short an acquaintance I ever formed so strong an 
attachment. When at the end of the week we left for Wash- 
ington, he came down to the steamboat to bid us good-bye, and 
I little thought that on the next Tuesday, the loth, he would 
meet his death on the battlefield of Big Bethel. He was born 
in New Haven, September 22, 1828, and in 1848 graduated 
at Yale. He began the practice of law in St. Louis, but re- 
moved to New York, where he acquired reputation as the au- 
thor of Cecil Dreeme, John Brent and other popular books. 
He went to Washington with the New York seventh regi- 
ment, and was selected by General Butler as a member of his 

staff. 

There were thirteen Massachusetts companies in the For- 



400 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

tress : The Halifax Company, Captain Harlow ; Plymouth 
Standish Guards, Capt. Charles C. Doten ; Plymouth Rock 
Guards, Capt. Samuel H. Doten; Freetown Company, Capt. 
Marble ; Plympton Company, Capt. Perkins ; Carver Com- 
pany, Capt. McFarlin ; New Bedford Company, Capt. Ingra- 
ham ; Cambridge Company, Capt. Richardson ; Sandwich 
Company, Capt. Chipman ; East Bridgewater Company, Capt. 
Leach ; Lynn Company, Capt, Chamberlin ; Boston Com- 
pany, Capt. Tyler ; and Lowell Company, Capt. Davis. 
Of these companies two, the Boston and Lynn, be- 
longed to the 4th Regiment, which was encamped at Newport 
News, and the Lowell company was attached to the post, the 
remaining ten forming the 3d regiment. The officers were 
quartered in the casemates, and the privates in various build- 
ings, the Cambridge and Halifax companies in the carriage 
shop, the Plympton company in a room overhead, the two 
Plymouth companies in the forge, which had been floored 
over, the East Bridgewater, New Bedford, Sandwich and 
Lowell companies in other buildings, and the remainder of the 
Massachusetts companies in tents. The health of the men 
was good, only ten being in the hospital, and twenty off duty 
all told in the thirteen companies. I made a note of the ra- 
tions for eleven days allowed to a company of seventy men, 
which included 352^ pounds of pork; 352^ pounds of salt 
beef ; 45 quarts of beans ; 47 quarts of rice, 1033^ pounds of 
cofifee; 155 pounds of sugar; 103^ gallons of vinegar; 12^ 
pounds of candles; 41 pounds of soap; 20^ quarts of salt; 
352 pounds of fresh beef, a fresh supply of bread every day, 
and an allowance of potatoes and chocolate. The East 
Bridgewater Company had not received the new uniforms, the 
Plympton Company was without overcoats, and none of the 
companies had canteens or rubber blankets, all of which, 
however, were supplied later. On the Hampton camping 
ground outside of the Fortress, there were five New York 
regiments, commanded by Colonels Duryea, Allen, Townsend, 
Carr and McChesny, and General Pierce had his headquarters 
in the Hampton female seminary. The troops I have men- 
tioned, with a few regulars made up the force at and about 
the Fortress during my visit, which extended from the third 
to the seventh of June. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



401 



On Tuesday, June 4th, we went seven miles or more up 
the bay to Newport News at the mouth of James River, where 
the 4th Massachusetts Regiment was in camp. We went up 
in the Steamer "Catahne," a spelHng of the name of the old 
Roman, for which the author may have had the excuse of Ma- 
jor Ben Russell, the editor of the Columbian Centinel who, 
when printing his first number, having no capital S, substi- 
tuted C, and having begun with that letter, always continued 
its use. At Newport News there were encamped all of the 
Fourth Massachusetts Regiment except the two companies, 
which were at the Fortress, the Steuben Rifles of New York 
under Col. Bendix, and a Vermont regiment under Col. 
Washburn, the whole under the command of Colonel 
Phelps of Vermont. Newport News is a peninsula, bounded 
on one side by the bay and on the other by James River, and 
an earthwork had been constructed a half mile long, extend- 
ing across it. Three hundred and thirty of the Fourth were 
without tents, and occupying huts made of rails covered with 
branches. For several days tents had been lying piled up on 
the wharf at the Fortress, but owing to inefficiency, or red 
tape, they were not delivered until the sixth of June. The 
hospital was in charge of F. A. Saville of Quincv, and from 
the three regiments it had only three inmates. Henry 
Walker, now a lawyer in Boston and the Commander of the 
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company on its late visit to 
England, was Adjutant of the Fourth, and a friend whom I 
was glad to see. 

On Monday, the tenth of June, the next week after our visit. 
General Pierce was ordered by General Butler to take five 
companies of the Fourth, the Steuben Rifles, and Col. Wash- 
burn's New York Regiment, and go up the peninsula from 
twelve to twenty miles and dislodge a force of rebels at Little 
and Big Bethel. By a sad blunder Col. Washburn's Regi- 
ment was fired upon by the Steuben Rifles and eleven men 
were killed, thus breaking up the expedition in which before 
its retreat Major Winthrop and three of the Fourth Massa- 
chusetts were killed. 

The Sloop of War Roanoke under the command of Com- 
modore John Marston, the Steamer Vanderbilt, which had 
been given to the government by Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the 



402 TLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Revenue Cutter Harriet Lane temporarily attached to the 
navy, were anchored between the Fortress and Newport 
News. Commodore Marston was well known in Plymouth 
by the Watson family, to whom he was related, and during a 
winter spent in Philadelphia, where he lived, I was intimate 
with him and his family. Both as an old friend and as a 
Plymouth man, he extended to me every courtesy. The 
Harriet Lane was commanded by Capt. John Faunce, a Plym- 
outh man, first cousin of our townsman, Richard W. Bagnell, 
their mothers having been sisters, and daughters of Ebenezer 
Sampson. John was one of the boys, as fearless as Paul 
Jones or Farragut, and would have enjoyed nothing better 
than to have a good ripping sea fight for our entertainment. 
While we were at Newport News he ran across the mouth of 
the James and banged away at a batttery on Pig Point until 
he was called off by the Commodore. He was glad enough 
to «ee a Plymouth boy and while I was on his vessel I was 
given the "freedom of the ship." 

General Ebenezer W. Pierce who went to the Fortress with 
me in the Cambridge and who had command at Big Bethel, 
had been detailed to command the three months' men in South- 
ern Virginia. He was born in Freetown, Mass., April 5, 
1822, and in the Massachusetts militia, before the war, had 
occupied various positions from Captain to 'Brigadier Gener- 
al. After he was mustered out July 22, 1861, at the expira- 
tion of three months' service, he again entered the army and 
December 31, 1861, he was mustered in as Colonel of the 
Massachusetts 29th Regiment, serving until his resignation 
November 8, 1864. He was an eccentric man but patriotic 
and brave. At the battle of White Oak Swamp June 30, 
1862, I have been told that when he was ordered to take his 
regiment into the fight his order was — "by the right flank 
up the hill ; God damn you, forward march." Within five 
minutes a ball from a rebel battery took ofiF his right arm at the 
shoulder. After the wound had been partially dressed under 
fire he was left on the field within the rebel lines until night, 
when he crept to cover and found his way to a union camp. 
Within thirty days he reported for service again and continued 
in commission until his resignation November 8, 1864. He 
died in Freetown, August 14, 1902. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



403 



On Friday, the 7th of June, the despatch boat Mt. Vernon 
arrived from Washington, and General Butler g^ave us passes 
for her return trip that night. The boat, besides her captain, 
had two river pilots, and as the lights on the Potomac had 
been extinguished by the rebels we were guided through its 
tortuous channels entirely by the lead. Besides the bearer 
of despatches there was on board a guard of ten men of the 
71st New York Regiment, and under deck there was a half a 
ton of powder. All but one of the rebel batteries on the river 
were passed in the night, and as we approached them we slowed 
down so as to make little noise and put out all the lights on 
board. One battery remained to be passed after daylight, 
but as we rounded a point and brought it in sight we saw the 
gunboat Powhattan anchored in the stream, having silenced 
it since the down trip of the despatch boat. The bearer of 
despatches was one of those fellows which war would be likely 
to bring to the surface, apparently a German Jew, about twen- 
ty-five 3'ears of age, bragging of his exploits as secret messen- 
ger from Gen. Butler at Annapolis to Gen. Scott in Wash- 
ington, and distrusted by the guard, who called him the mys- 
terious cuss. Every step he took and every movement he 
made was carefully watched, lest he might by a match or some 
other signal inform the batteries of our passage. I learned on 
a later visit to Washington that he came to grief as a suspected 
rebel spy. 

Arriving at the Navy Yard at Washington about ten o'clock, 
after breakfast at the hotel we visited the 5th Massa- 
chusetts Regiment, of which my friend, George H. Brastow 
was Major. They were encamped near Alexandria, and with 
the 5th Pennsylvania, ist Michigan and the Ellsworth Zou- 
aves formed the Union outpost near Shooter's Hill, between 
Alexandria and the Fairfax seminary. The next day, Sun- 
day, I went out to the Relay House at the junction of the 
Harper's Ferry and the Baltimore and Washington Railroads, 
where were encamped the 6th and 8th Massachusetts Regi- 
ments and Cook's Massachusetts Battery. I spent the night 
with Col. Hincks of the 8th, whose commissary of the post 
was Dexter F. Parker of Worcester. The Colonel was a 
clerk in the office of the Secretary of State when I was in 
the Senate in 1858 and 1859, and Commissary Parker was a 



404 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

brother Senator in 1859. Their camp was delightfully situ- 
ated on the grounds of Dr. Hall overlooking the Valley of 
the Patapsco River. On Monday I went down to Baltimore 
and rode round to Fort McHenry, where the 3d Massachusetts 
Battalion of Rifles, under Major Charles Devens was quar- 
tered. This Battalion consisted of the Worcester City Guards 
and the Holden Rifles, to which were attached the Emmet 
Guards of Worcester and a Boston Company, raised after 
the call for troops was issued. I found General Banks at the 
Fort, and on our way back to Baltimore together he criticised 
the limitation of the President's call to 75,000 men, feeling 
assured that the war was to be a long one. He was wise in 
his anticipation of a long war, but I think he was mistaken 
as to the call. The dela}' in raising a larger number of three 
months' men would have disheartened the North and encour- 
aged the South, and a larger call for short service would have 
interfered with enlistments for a long one. On the whole it 
seems to me that the early war measures were conceived and 
executed by wise, far-seeing men. From Baltimore I returned 
home and made a report to the Governor. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 405 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

I have spoken in the last chapter of being- intimate with Com- 
modore John :\Iarston and family during a winter I spent in 
Philadelphia. There was another Commodore whom I knew 
there. I lived four months next door to Commodore James 
Barron, who in 1820 killed Commodore Stephen Decatur in a 
duel. Before the war of 1812 Barron was in command of 
the Ship Chesapeake, from which, under a claimed right of 
search, a British frigate had taken several sailors, alleged to 
be British. For his conduct in that affair he was tried and 
sentenced to five years' suspension without pay. After the 
war he returned from Europe where he had lived some time, 
and his application for employment in the navy was opposed 
by Decatur on the ground that he had been disloyal to his 
country in not returning to fight her battles. A challenge fol- 
lowed, and a duel was fought on the historic field of Bladens- 
burg. Both fired together, Decatur receiving a mortal wound 
in the breast, and Barron a wound in the thigh which he 
thought was also mortal. As they lay on the ground bleeding, 
the scene was a pathetic one. Barron said, "I hope, Decatur, 
when we meet in heaven that we shall be better friends than 
we have been here." Decatur answered, "I have not been 
^'our enemy, but tell me, Barron, why you did not come home 
and fight for your country." Barron replied, "I had been liv- 
ing many years in Europe, and had contracted debts which 
I could not run away and leave unpaid." "Ah," said Decatur, 
"If 1 had known that, we should not be lying here awaiting 
death." Barron recovered, and was again employed in the ser- 
vice. His life was saddened by the event, but he never alluded 
to the melancholy scenes attending it. "If I had known that," 
said Decatur ! Alas, how many duels might have been averted 
if the parties had come together and heard in a personal inter- 
view reasons and explanations. Yes, and in the broader field 
of national honor if nations had sent their representatives to 
discuss dispassionately their complaints and differences, how 
many thousands of lives might have been saved and liow many 
millions of treasure. 



406 TLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

After returning from a visit to the Massachusetts troops at 
the front I was kept busy during the summer of 1861, enhsting 
men in Plymouth, and Kingston and other neighboring towns. 
I was several times in Washington on business in the war and 
navy departments. Simon Cameron was secretary of war 
from the 4th of March, 1861, until January, 1862, when he 
was succeeded by Edwin M. Stanton. I have nothing of in- 
terest to say concerning the former, but later I shall tell a story 
of my interview with the latter in October, 1862. The secre- 
tary of the Navy was Gideon Welles of Connecticut, but 
Gustavus Vasa Fox, the assistant secretary, was really the 
right hand of the department. Mr. Fox I had known for 
many years, my acquaintance beginning when a midshipman 
he came, I think in 1838, to Plymouth in the practice brig Ap- 
prentice, commanded by Lieut. Moore, and anchoring in beach 
channel, remained over a Sunday and attended church. He 
was a remarkable man, thought by some to be the strongest 
man connected with the administration during the war. He 
was born in Saugus, Massachusetts, June 13. 1821, and was 
appointed midshipman January 12, 1838. In 1856 he resigned 
with the rank of first lieutenant, and was appointed agent of 
the Bay State Mills in Lawrence. In March, 1861, he was 
sent by President Lincoln to Charleston to confer with Major 
Anderson about sending him aid at Fort Sumter, and was 
soon appointed assistant secretary of the Navy. To him was 
due the plan for the capture of New Orleans, and the selection 
of Farragut for the command in which he distinguished him- 
self. His sound judgment and earnest advice led to the con- 
struction of the Monitor, and he established and perfected the 
blockade. After the war he was assigned to the duty of car- 
rying the ram Miantonomah to the Baltic, which had been 
sold to the Russian government, and he was at the same time 
made a bearer of despatches conveying the congratulations of 
our government to Emperor Alexander 2nd, on his escape 
from assassination on the i6th of April, 1866. The Mianto- 
nomah was the first iron-clad to cross the ocean, and Capt. Fox 
reported her a comfortable craft, which instead of pitching 
and rolling in heavy weather, took the seas across her deck, 
and remained comparatively on an even keel. On his return 
home he was appomted manager of the Middlesex Mills in 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



407 



Lowell, and died in New York, October 29, 1883. In my 
communications with him, concerning appointments in the 
service, I never failed to receive a favorable response. I was 
the more careful therefore in making requests. In one in- 
stance I recommended a man for ensign, and hearing some- 
thing soon after leading me to doubt his competency. I im- 
mediately wrote to ]\Ir. Fox withdrawing my recommendation, 
and the applicant now dead, failed to receive an appointment. 
Sometimes at a later period of the war I was often asked to in- 
tercede in behalf of some soldier for a furlough. I remember 
the case of an officer, now dead, who was quite successful in 
obtaining furloughs on his own account, and who was in the 
habit while at home of criticising the conduct of the war. On 
one of his visits an old lady said, "lah, that — is home again — 
this is the curiousest war that ever I see, if they don't like the 
percedings they come home." In quoting the quaint remark 
of the old lady I do not intend to suggest any doubt of the 
fidelity of a brave and efficient officer who probably had good 
and sufficient reasons for his furloughs. 

The Standish Guards returned home after their three 
months' service, on the 23d of July, and were received at the 
railroad station by the Home Guard, and in the evening at a 
festival in Davis hall. The officers of the company chosen 
after their arrival at Fortress Monroe, were Charles C. Doten, 
captain, and Otis Rogers and Wm. B. Alexander first and 2nd 
lieutenants, respectively. Lemuel Bradford, 2nd, who went 
out with the company as 4th lieutenant, was not permitted to 
be mustered, as only two lieutenants were allowed to each 
company. I have always understood that four lieutenants 
were mustered in the companies of the 5th, 6th, and 8th Mas- 
sachusetts Regiments in and about Washington, where for 
some unknown reason a different rule prevailed. 

In August, 1861, a second three years' company was re- 
cruited by Capt. Joseph W. Collingwood to be attached as Co. 
H. to the 1 8th Massachusetts Regiment. All the men of this 
company were enlisted in the recruiting office established by 
the Plymouth Selectmen. Thirteen Plymouth men were en- 
listed in Co. H, and eight in other companies of the i8th Regi- 
ment. The Regiment was mustered into serv^ice August 24, 
and on the 26th left Readville, where they had been in camp. 



408 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

for Washington, joining- the army of the Potomac at Hall's 
Hill near that city. 

In September, 1861, Capt. Wm. B. Alexander was author- 
ized to raise a company to be attached as Co. E to the 23d 
Regiment, and ninety-seven men were enlisted at the Plym- 
outh office, of whom sixty were Plymouth men. This com- 
pany, with Wm. B. Alexander, Capt., and Otis Rogers, and 
Thomas B. Atwood, respectively, first and second lieutenants, 
went into camp at Lynfield, and November 11 left for Annap- 
olis. Three other Plymouth men later joined Co. E as re- 
cruits, and three Plymouth men joined other companies in the 
23d regiment. 

In December, 1861, Lieutenant Josiah C. Fuller aided in re- 
cruiting Company E for the first Battalion of Massachusetts, 
which was finally recognized as the 32d Regiment, and twenty 
men were enlisted in Plymouth. Twenty more were enlisted 
for Company F, and four more for other companies in the 
same regiment, and three recruits were added later to Com- 
pany E. This regiment was organized for garrison duty at 
Fort Warren in Boston harbor with Josiah C. Fuller, Capt. of 
Company E, and Edward F. Phinney second lieutenant of 
Company F, and May 20, 1862, left for Washington. 

On the 7th of July, 1862, an order was issued at headquar- 
ters, stating that Massachusetts had been called on for fifteen 
thousand men, of which number Plymouth was required to 
furnish sixty. The Governor asked me to raise two com- 
panies to be designated as Companies D and G in the 38th 
Regiment, and to select officers for them. I first enlisted men 
for Company D, and soon filled its ranks with thirty men from 
Plymouth, and the remainder from neighboring towns. I first 
recommended Chas. H. Drew for captain, Cephas Washburn 
and Albert Mason, first and second lieutenants, respectively. 
Charles H. Drew was then first lieutenant in Company H, 
1 8th Regiment, and the war department refused to muster 
him out to enable him to receive his commission. I then filled, 
the ranks of Company G with thirty-one from Plymouth, and 
the remainder from neighboring towns, and recommended 
Charles C. Doten for captain and George B. Russell, second 
lieutenant. The town's quota was completed by one enlist- 
ment for the 13th Regiment, one for the 20th and one for the 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 4O9 

35th. The 38th Regiment went into camp at Lynfield, and 
September 24, 1862, left for Baltimore, where it went into 
camp near the city and left November 9th in the steamer 
Baltic for Ship island. I went with the Plymouth companies 
to Lynfield and spent a week with them under canvas to aid 
in making requisitions for equipments, and looking generally 
after the comfort of the men. My classmate, Wm. Logan 
Rodman of New Bedford, was commissioned Major of the 
Regiment, and later before it left, lieutenant colonel. When 
the commission as lieutenant colonel was offered to 
him he asked my advice about accepting it, as he knew noth- 
ing about military matters, but he was finally commissioned, 
and in the absence of Col. Ingraham, went to Baltimore in 
command of the regiment. Poor fellow, he was killed at the 
siege of Port Hudson in May, 1863. He was lying down with 
his command behind logs, and lifting his head was instantly 
killed by a rebel sharpshooter. During my stay at the Lyn- 
field Camp, I for the first time was christened with a high 
military title. Patrick Maguire of Company D was found 
one night outside the camp somewhat under the influence of 
liquor, and carried to the gnard house. When asked what 
regiment he belonged to he said, "by gorrah, I don't belong to 
no regiment at all, I belong to Davis's brigade." 

In August, 1862, a call was made for 300,000 nine months' 
men, of which the quota of Plymouth was thirty-seven. 
Every organized militia company in the 3d Regiment was 
authorized to recruit up to the standard, but as it would be 
impossible to fill the Standish Guards and the Carver and 
Plympton companies, it was agreed that the three companies 
should recruit together as Company B, the letter of the Stand- 
ish Guards, under a Carver Captain, and with a first lieutenant 
from the Guards, and a second lieutenant from the Plympton 
company. Under this arrangement Thos. B. Griffith was 
made captain ; Charles A. S. Perkins of Plymouth, first lieu- 
tenant, and Wm. S. Briggs of Middleboro, second lieuten- 
ant. Thirty men enlisted in Plymouth, including John Moris- 
sey, who was appointed Major. The regiment went into camp 
at Lakeville, and October 22, 1862, sailed from Boston in the 
steamships Merrimac and Mississippi for Newbern, North 
Carolina. Twelve other nine months' men were enlisted in 



4IO PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Plymonth for the 4th, 6th, 44th, 45th and 50th Regiments. 
Thirty-five of the nine months' men received a bounty of one 
hundred dollars in accordance with a vote of the town. 

After the defeat of General Pope by General Lee at the 
second Bull Run, the rebel army crossed the Potomac at No- 
land's ford, and reached Frederick in Maryland on the 6th 
of September, 1862. In the meantime General McClellan had 
been restored to the command of the army of the Potomac, 
and crossing the Potomac in pursuit of Lee, entered Freder- 
ick on the 1 2th, two days after its evacuation by the rebel 
army. On the 13th the union army passed through Frederick 
and overtook the rebel army at South mountain, where they 
fought a victorious battle on the 14th. The pursuit was kept 
up through Boonesboro and Keedysville, until Antietam river 
was reached, where the rebel army was strongly entrenched. 
Without intending to write a history of the battle, I think I 
can say as a result of my frequent studies of the conflict, that 
the Massachusetts troops acquitted themselves with special 
bravery. The battle was won, but while Burnside on the left 
was fighting desperately to hold a position, the loss of which 
would have involved the defeat of the army, and was calling 
on McClellan for aid, the i8th corps, under Fitz John Porter, 
to which the iSth and 32d Massachusetts belonged, was held 
fifteen thousand strong in reserve, and had no share in the 
battle. With the light we now have it is easy to see that if the 
reserves had been put in at the critical moment, as they were 
put in by Wellington at Waterloo, when he shut his field glass 
with a snap and gave the order, "Up guards, and at them," 
the rebel army would have been destroyed before it recrossed 
the Potomac. The only excuse for McQellan was his belief 
that the battle was only suspended, not terminated, when 
night set in, and that on the morrow the army with fresh 
troops would win. 

In the two battles, of South Mountain on the 14th of Sep- 
temiber, and Antietam on the 17th, the ^Massachusetts regi- 
ments suffered severely. In the first the 12th, 13th, 21st and 
28th regiments, and the ist and 8th batteries were engaged, 
and in the last the 2nd, 12th, 13th, 15th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 28th, 
29th and 35th regiments, and two batteries. The 12th had 
seventy-four killed and 165 wounded, the 15th had 108 killed, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 4I I 

and the 29th, 9 killed and 31 wounded, while the others suf- 
fered in various degrees between the hig-hest and lowest as 
above. The most severely wounded were carried to hospitals 
on the field, and to temporary hospitals in Sharpsburgh and 
Frederick, while those less severely wounded were carried to 
Washing-ton, BalUmore and Philadelphia, and some sent to 
their homes. Governor Andrew asked me to g:o out and visit 
the Massachusetts men, wherever they might be found in the 
hospitals. They needed no supplies, for they were abundantly 
furnished by the commissariat and the sanitary commission 
with everything from bedding and underclothing to wines and 
canned fruits and preserves. But there was something which 
neither of these agencies could supply, something to remove 
the depression of spirits which a sick man feels away from 
home, and which is the greatest obstacle to recovery-. I have 
often seen the pallid cheeks of a soldier furrowed with pain, 
light up with a smile as he opened his eyes and found stand- 
ing by his bedside a messenger from home. 

Reaching Baltimore at night, I met at the hotel Dr. LeBar- 
ron Russell, and the next morning we went together by rail to 
Frederick, where we passed the night. Every available pub- 
lic building, including churches, had been converted into a 
hospital, and in one of these I remember finding Barnabas 
Dunham of Plymouth, a member of the 29th Regiment. In 
one of the cliurch hospitals, I found Dr. Theodore Cornish in 
charge, brother of the late Aaron H. Cornish of Plymouth, 
who I think was either surgeon or assistant surgeon in a 
Rhode Island regiment. He gave us much information about 
the condition of the wounded in Frederick, and their dispers- 
ion to other places. About five years ago I met him on the 
steamboat coming to Plymouth, never having seen him since 
our interview in Frederick, and called him by name. He 
failed to recognize me until I reminded him of my encount- 
ering him in the hospital dressing the wound of a soldier who 
had been operated on by an excision of a section of the humer- 
us to avoid amputation The next morning we hired a con- 
veyance to Boonesboro, a small village, through whose streets 
both armies had passed from South Mountain gap, where 
the battle of September 14th had been fought. The shat- 
tered trees and levelled fences and trodden down fields told 



412 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

their story of the conflict. We passed the night at Boones- 
boro, finding no Massachusetts wounded there. I was amused 
at a custom prevaihng in that neighborhood disclosed to me 
by the landlady, when to a mild complaint of sleeping on a 
blanket, she answered that nobody thought of putting more 
than one sheet on the bed. The next morning we rode on 
to Keedysville, a straggling village of five hundred inhabi- 
tants, where nearly all the houses contained wounded men. 
There was a provost marshal stationed there, and going to 
his office we were surprised to find him to be Capt. Joseph W. 
Collingwood. His company was attached to Fitz John Port- 
er's Corps, held in reserve, and consequently had not been in 
the battle. Taking Capt. Collingwood into our carriage we 
drove to the Locust Spring hospital, containing under canvas 
about two hundred and fifty severely wounded men. Here 
Charles Henry Robbins, son of Heman C. Robbins of Plym- 
outh, died from a wound received in the battle. I saw his 
nurse, a fine woman from Chicago, named Mary Everingham, 
who expressed great interest in him, and I visited his grave 
in a pleasant field marked with a head and foot stone by a 
soldier named Keith of North Bridge water, from which I took 
a stone to carry to his mother. Mr. Robbins belonged to 
Company H, 35th regiment, and enlisted in Weymouth. The 
next field tent hospital which we visited was at Smoketown, 
less than a mile from the extreme right of the Union line of 
battle, where hard fighting was done under Hooker in the 
early part of the day. This hospital contained about four 
hundred and fifty patients, under the charge of Dr. Vander- 
keefe, a Hollander, who had served in the Crimea. His hos- 
pital was a model in care, cleanliness, distribution of comforts, 
and surgical skill. The work done by the sanitary commis- 
sion was wonderful. At the first sign of a battle it despatch- 
ed many wagons loads of sheets, coverlids, beds, towels, 
handkerchiefs, preserved meats, stockings, drawers, 
shirts, bandages, wines, etc., which reached the vicin- 
ity of the battle field before a gun was fired, and was ready 
for work when the wounded were carried to the rear. From 
this point we rode over the whole battle field, four miles in 
length, from Hooker's cornfield to Burnside's bridge, by the 
sunken road and the Dunker church, still littered with the 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 4I3 

debris of battle, and reached Sharpsbiirg late in the afternoon, 
en our way visiting- Porter's camp, and calling on Captains 
Charles H. Drew and Wm. H. Winsor of the i8lh Massa- 
chusetts regiment. Late in the evening we reached Harper's 
Ferry, where after a supper of ham and eggs we found sleep- 
ing quarters in an attic room, lighted and ventilated by a 
broken glass scuttle, and equipped with a bed with broken 
slats, leaving us to sleep on the Hoor, with our heads and feet 
on the rails of the bedstead. The next morning we went out 
to Boliver Heights, and visited the camps of the 15th, 19th, 
20th and 29th IMassachusetts regiments, the last having re- 
turned the night before from an expedition to Charlestown, 
and in the evening went by rail to Washington. 

During my stay in Washington I visited all the hospitals, 
beginnhig 'vvitn Lincoln Hospital. While passing through one 
of the wards I heard my name called by an occupant of one 
of the beds. Responding to the call I found a young man 
whom I had enlisted in Plymouth a few months before as a 
recruit for Col. Lee's 20th Regiment. His name was Erik 
Wolflf, a Swede of good education, who came to America to 
learn to become a soldier, and thought that promotion would 
be sure and speedy. His father, a merchant in Gottenburg, 
had had some years before business relations with Capt. John 
Russell, and having letters of introduction to Capt. Russell's 
family he came at once to Plymouth on his arrival. He was 
now very sick with typhoid fever, and in his anxiety to be 
discharged, was so depressed in spirits that the surgeon said 
his recovery was hopeless, unless his discharge was secured. 
Col. Lee's efforts had been unavailing, as at that time every 
application of the kind was rejected by the department. I 
told him that I would see what I could do, and jumping into 
a horse car, rode at once to the war department, reaching 
there before the office of the secretary was open. A long line 
of men and women stretched down the hall, all with anxious 
faces, evidently waiting to ask some favor of the secretary. 
When the door was opened the line shortened up so rapidly 
that I felt sure that short work was made of the applications. 
When I reached the door Mr. Stanton was standing at a small 
standing desk, and turning off the applicants right and left. 
I had never seen him before, and had no reason to believe 



414 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

that he had ever seen or heard of me. When my turn came 
I told him my story in as few words as possible, that I enlisted 
Wolff, that he was a foreigner, on whose service v/e had no 
claim, and was in the Lincoln hospital. Not a word was 
spoken by the secretary, not a single question asked, but as 
soon as I finished he touched a hand bell, to which an officer 
responded, and the secretary said, "Mr. Davis, if you will 
follow Major Hardee, he will make out the discharge." 
Within two hours from the time I left the hospital I returned 
with the discharge to gladden the young fellow's heart. He 
recovered after a protracted confinement, and returned to 
Massachusetts, receiving later from Governor Andrew a cap- 
tain's commission in the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment. 
On my way home I visited the hospitals in Baltimore and 
West Philadelphia, carrying with me a realizing sense of the 
terrible incidents of war. I have told the story of my inter- 
view with Secretary Stanton to show the injustice of the 
charge that he was destitute of sympathy for the soldiers 
whom he used merely as a part of the machinery of war. 

Proceeding in my narrative in chronological order, in the 
winter of 1862 and 1863, strenuous, but unavailing efforts 
were made by Governor Andrew to have the exposed harbors 
of the state properly protected. Finally it was determined 
to construct earthworks on the Gurnet and Saquish, and the 
work was entered upon at once under the direction of the 
Selectmen at the expense of the Commonwealth. I obtained 
from Mr. Fox, assistant secretary of the Navy, an order on 
Commodore Hudson in command at the Charlestown Navy 
Yard for seven guns for Fort Andrew, and five for Fort 
Standish, and had carriages made in Plymouth. These forts 
were completed in the early summer of 1863, and Governor 
Andrew was advised by the selectmen of their intention to 
name that on the Gurnet, Fort Andrew, and that on the Sa- 
quish, Fort Sandish. On the i6th of March I received from 
the Governor the following letter : 

Dear Sir. — No fort as yet bears the name which your board 
of selectmen has so generously proposed for the larger fort 
now m progress in Plymouth harbor, nor had any ambition 
of my own ever suggested to my mind the possibility of be- 
coming in that manner associated with such a work. I am 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 415 

deeply sensible of the honor; and while I feel that it does not 
properly belong to me, I can only leave to you and your asso- 
ciates the final decision, with a single suggestion that it would 
seem to be more fitting the occasion to connect the name of 
the first Governor of the Plymouth Colony with one of the 
fortifications of the harbor of Plymouth than the name you 
propose, even if I were a hundred times more worthy than 
1 know myself to be." 

Notwithstanding Governor Andrew's modest estimate of 
his public services, the fort received his name. 

In 1862 I became quite intimate with Capt. James Birds- 
eye McPherson of the United States Engineers. He was un- 
doubtedly one of the ablest officers in the army, and his early 
death closed a career of great brilliancy. It was widely be- 
lieved in the army up to the time of his death, that if Grant 
had died or resigned, he would have been his successor. Dur- 
ing several years of the war I was obliged to spend much time 
in Boston, and while there I made the Tremont House my 
home. There were five or six regular bachelor boarders 
who occupied a table by themselves, one of whom was Capt. 
McPherson. He was born in Sandusky, Ohio, November 14, 
1828, and graduated at West Point first scholar in the class 
of 1853. He rose rapidly, and while serving as an engineer 
in California, he became acquainted with General Halleck. 
When the war came on, having been promoted to a captaincy 
he was sent to Boston to mount guns on Fort Warren, and it 
was at that time that he boarded at the Tremont House, and 
at the table where he sat I was always when in town offered 
a chair. No one could meet and talk with him without being 
struck with his clear eye, his thoughful face and thoroughly 
trustworthy deportment. One afternoon while I was at the 
Hotel, Captain Paraclete Holmes of Kingston, boarding there 
took up the Transcript and read aloud a news paragraph stat- 
ing that Capt. McPherson had been ordered west to join the 
staff of General Halleck. When the Catpain came in he was 
shown the despatch, and said that he knew nothing about it. 
When, however, he received his evening mail, his orders 
reached him. As he was ordered to report at once, we ar- 
ranged a parting supper for the next evening, for which I re- 
member, bv the way, I ordered a gallon of oysters, which had 



4l6 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

been bedded on the Plymouth flats by S. D. Ballard, and 
which were pronounced by the supper party as the best they 
had ever tasted. When I bade the Captain good bye he said, 
**I shall have an opportunity now to see whether I have mis- 
taken my profession." The sequel demonstrated that he had 
not. He was soon promoted to be Major General of volun- 
teers, and transferred to the staff of General Grant as Chief 
Engineer, serving with him at the battles of Fort Henry, 
Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth and luka. He later com- 
manded the right wing of Grant's army, and at the siege of 
Vicksburg commanded the 17th Army Corps. After Grant 
assumed command of the army of the Potomac, he joined 
Sherman, under whom he was in command of 30,000 men. 
At the siege of Atlanta he was killed, July 22, 1864, at the age 
of thirty-five. 

I was again in Washington visiting the hospitals after the 
battle of Fredericksburg, on the 13th of December, 1862, and 
after the death of Capt. Collingwood on the 24th, I sent a 
despatch to Andrew L. Russell, who informed his family and 
friends. I was on a visit to the College hospital in George- 
town, when Capt. Charles H. Drew was brought in severely 
wounded in the Fredericksburg battle. It fell to me while in 
Washington, during the battles of the Wilderness, to send a 
despatch to Mr. Russell, informing him of the death of Lem- 
uel B. Morton, killed at the battle of Spottsylvania Court 
House, May 12, 1864. 

On the 17th of July, 1863, as the result of a draft, one Plym- 
outh man commuted, thirteen found substitutes, and three en- 
tered the service. In the autumn of 1863, under a call for 
500,000 men, the quota of Plymouth was fixed at one hundred 
and seventeen. After the selectmen reported that the quota 
had been filled they were notified that in consequence of a 
delay in crediting enlistments for the army and navy, there 
existed a deficiency of twenty-five men, which must be filled 
by a draft. One man was held under the draft who found a 
substitute, and before another draft was ordered the select- 
men had filled the quota by the purchase of recruits in Boston. 
A vote had been passed by the town ofifering to recruits a 
bounty of $125, and a committee of citizens were appointed to 
raise such funds to increase the bountv to such an amount as 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 417 

the selectmen mig-ht think advisable. The committee raised 
the sum of $3,776.25, and with this sum and the bounty, voted 
by the town, the selectmen secured twenty-two recruits for 
the army and four for the navy. Another call for 500,000 men 
was made July, 1864, and with money raised by the above com- 
mittee to wit, $5,011.00, the selectmen obtained twenty-six re- 
cruits, who with the credit for the men in the navy hertofore 
withheld, and one representative recruit purchased by a citizen, 
filled the quota of the town. 

On the 19th of November, 1864, seven Plymouth men were 
mustered into the 20th unattached company, stationed at 
Marblehead for one year's service, and on the nth of Decem- 
ber, forty-two more were mustered into the 26th unattached 
company raised to garrison Forts Andrew and Standish, but 
which finally was stationed at Readville, where it remained 
until it was mustered out. Until a late period in the war, the 
recruiting office in Plymouth was kept up by the selectmen, 
and at various times ninety-eight were enlisted in Plymouth 
and other places for the ist, 7th, nth, 12th, 13th, i6th, 17th, 
i8th, 2oth, 24th, 28th, 30th, 34th, 41st, 55th, 58th, Massachu- 
setts Regiments, ist, 4th, 5th Massachusetts Cavalry, 2nd 
Massachusetts Heavy Artillerv, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 12th Massachusetts 
Batteries, 2nd Massachusetts Sharpshooters, 3rd Rhode Island 
Cavalry, 5th, 8th New Hampshire Re^ments, 3rd, loth, 99th, 
New York Regiments, loth Pennsylvania Regiment, 8th Illi- 
nois Regiment, the Si.gnal Corps, President's Guard, Veteran 
Reserve Corps and California Cavalry. In addition to the 
above, six were recruited by the commission appointed to re- 
cruit in rebel states, and credited to Plymouth, and the follow- 
ing re-enlistments were also credited to the town — six in Co. E, 
29th Massachusetts Regiment, one each in companies C, E 
and H, i8th Regiment, twelve in Co. E, 23rd Regiment, eight 
in Co. E, 32nd Regiment, five in Co. F, 32nd Regiment, four 
in other companies m the 32nd Regiment, two in the ist Cav- 
alry, one in the 58th Regiment, one in the Rhode Island Cav- 
alry, one in the 17th Regiment, one in the 30th Regiment, one 
in the Regular Army, and one in the Corps D'Afrique. On 
the first day of February, 1866, all the above soldiers enlisted 
and re-enlisted to the credit of the town had been mustered 
out except Brevet Major Geo. B. Russell, Provost Marshal 



4l8 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

of the District of Colmnbia, and Philander Freeman and 
Stephen M. Maybury in the regiilar army. Before closing this 
record of the Plymouth soldiers in the war it should be stated 
that on the 26th day of May, 1862, a telegram was received by 
Governor Andrew from the war department urging him to send 
at once all the militia force of the state, as General Banks had 
been driven from the Shenandoah Valley, and Washington was 
in danger. On the 27th in obedience to an order from the Gov- 
ernor, Capt. Charles C. Doten reported in Boston with the 
Standish Guards of fifty-seven men. Fear for the safety of 
the Capital, however, was soon dissipated, and the company 
returned home without being mustered into the service. 

In order to complete the roll of men furnished by Plymouth 
for the war, it only remains to say that the enlistments in the 
navy were three acting lieutenants, six ensigns, ten masters, 
two acting masters, seventeen mates, one assistant paymaster, 
three assistant engineers, one sailmaker, and sixty-five seamen. 

One of the most troublesome features of the service which 
the selectmen were called on to perform, was that regulating to 
filling the towns quotas with purchased men. There were 
private recruiting offices in Boston, where men were furnished, 
and to a great extent the recruits offering themselves were 
bounty jumpers as we called them. Unless a sharp eye was 
kept on these recruits, and the bounty withheld until they were 
examined by an army surgeon in Faneuil hall, and receipts 
given for them by the Provost Marshal, stating age, date of 
enlistment and Regiments for which they were enlisted, they 
would take up with a higher bid, or steal away with the 
bounty and receive another elsewhere. I landed all my men, 
but I knew of a number of cases where unwary selectmen lost 
their bounty and their men. Many recruits who failed in their 
efforts to evade service after they had received their bounty, 
deserted their regiments and enlisted where they could safely 
do so with another bounty. 

The whole number of men furnished by Plymouth for the 
war was 653 soldiers and 1 1 1 naval officers and seamen, which 
number filled all the quotas and left a surplus of 28 to the 
credit of the town. The cost to the town for all purposes con- 
nected with the war was a little more than $28,000, to which 
should be added $8,787.25 subscribed by the citizens for 
bounties. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



419 



CHAPTER XXXX. 



The following record contains the names of Plymouth 
men in the army and navy during the war, and as far as pos- 
sible an account of their service. 

The Third regiment enlisted for three months with Chas. 
Raymond, lieutenant colonel, Company B. Chas. C. Doten, 
1st lieutenant, captain; Otis Rogers, 2nd lieutenant, ist lieu- 
tenant; Wm. B. Alexander, 2d lieutenant, and the following 
men : 



Sherman Allen 
Thomas B. Atwood 
Timothy S. Atwood 
Charles E. Barnes, 2d 
George R. Barnes 
Wm. E. Barnes 
Amasa M. Bartlett 
Ellis B. Bramhall 
Caleb N. Brown 
Wm. S. Burbank, Jr. 
David L. Chandler 
George H. Chase 
Robert B. Churchill 
Charles C. Crosby 
Lyman Dixon 
Charles H. Drew 
Stephen C. Drew 
Lemuel B. Faunce, Jr. 
Solomon E. Faunce 
George H. Fish 
Augustus H. Fuller 
Theodore S. Fuller 
Thomas Haley 
Azel W. Handy 
Sylvanus R. Harlow 



Eliphalet Holbrook 
Charles H. Holmes 
Isaac T. Holmes 
Daniel D. Howard 
Charles Jones 
Qiarles N. Jordan 
Franklin S. Leach 
John S. Lucas 
Charles Mason 
Job B. Oldham 
Henry Perkins 
Charles W. Peirce 
Charles M. Perry 
Henry Ripley 
Francis H. Robbins 
James H. Robbins 
Leander L. Sherman 
Winslow B. Sherman 
Edward Smith 
Jacob W. Southworth 
James C Standish 
John Swift 
John Sylvester 
James Tribble 
John B. Williams 



John F. Harten 

Company B arrived at Fortress Monroe, April 20, 1861, and 
was sent at once to Norfolk in the U. S. Steamer Pawnee to 
destroy the Navy Yard, and on its return, was on the 22d mus- 
tered into the service for three months. Lemuel Bradford, 
2nd, who went out as 4th lieutenant of Company B, was not 
mustered in, as only two lieutenants were recognized, but re- 
mained during the three months at Old Point at work in the 



420 TLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Government Foundry, and returned home with the Company. 

On the 30th of April Lieutenant Colonel Charles Raymond, 

who had remained behind on recruiting service, arrived at the 

Fortress with the following recruits : 

Levonzo D. Barnes Alexander Gilmore 

Nathaniel F. Barnes Frederick Holmes 

David W. Burbank Daniel Lucas 

Albert E. Davis Harvey A. Raymond 

Josiah R. Drevi^ 

All the above three months' men remained in the Fortress 
during their service, except during the last two weeks, when 
they were quartered at Hampton, and embarked for Boston 
in the steamer Cambridge, arriving at Long Island in Boston 
harbor, July 19th, where they were mustered out July 22nd. 

The only other three months' Plymouth man was (jeorge W. 
Barnes, who was quartermaster's sergeant in the 4th regiment. 

Company E, 29th regiment, 3 years : 

Samuel H. Doten,capt. Bt., major; John B. Collingwood, ist 
lieutenant, adjutant; Nathaniel Burgess; ist lieutenant; 
Thomas A. Mayo, 2nd lieutenant ; Horace A. Jenks, 2nd lieu- 
tenant; John Shannon, 2nd lieutenant; Edward L. Robbins, 
principal musician. 

John K. Alexander Samuel H. Harlow 

John M. Atwood Thomas W. Hayden 

Charles C. Barnes Alexander Haskins 

Ellis D. Barnes James S. Holbrook 

Moses S. Barnes Orin D. Holmes 

Winslow C. Barnes Seth L. Holmes 

Simeon H. Barrows Wm. H. Howland 

Lawrence R. Blake Henry W. Kimball 

Andrew Blanchard Charles E. Merriam 

Cornelius Bradford George S. Morey 

George F. Bradford Wm. Morey, 2d 

Benjamin F. Bumpus John E. Morrison 

George F. Burbank John A. Morse 

Nathaniel Burgess Isaac Morton, Jr. 

Sylvanus L. Churchill Lemuel B. Morton 

Thomas Collingwood Wm. T. Nickerson 

Barnabas Dunham Seth W. Paty 

Henry F. Eddy John H. Pember 

Ichabod C. Fuller George F. Pierce 

Philander Freeman Wm. H. Pittee 

Timothy E. Gay Albert R. Robbins 

Wm. P. Gooding Henry H. Robbins 

John F. Hall Albert Simmons 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 421 

Frank H. Simmons Samuel D. Thrasher 

Patrick Smith Francis H. Vaughn 

Miles Standish Leander M. Vaughn 

Winslow B. Standish George E. Wadsworth 

James E. Stillman Alfred B. Warner 

\Vm. Swift Joseph B. Whiting 

Francis A. Thomas Wm. Williams 

The above company was mustered into the service at Fortress 
Monroe, 'Slay 22, 1861, and attached to the 3rd regiment. Af- 
ter the expiration of the term of the 3rd regiment, it was at- 
tached, as Co. E to the ist Massachusetts BattaHon, and sent 
to Newport News. On the 13th of December it was joined 
as Co. E to the 29th regiment, and sent from Newport News 
to Norfolk, Suffolk and White House Landing. At various 
periods in 1862, the following recruits joined the company. 

Benjamin F. Bates Charles E. Kleinhans 

Thomas B. Burt George F. Peckham 

Elisha S. Doten Charles E. Tillson 
Justus W. Harlow 

The 29th regiment was engaged in the various battles on the 
peninsula, and from the peninsula went into Maryland and 
fought in the battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862. It was 
at the battle of Fredricksburg, went to Vicksburg and Knox- 
ville, and finally joined the army of the Potomac, and contin- 
ued with it until its term of service expired. The following 
Plymouth men re-enlisted : 

Benjamin F. Bates Wm. T. Nickerson 

Nathaniel Burgess John Shannon 

Orin D. Holmes Charles E. Tillson 

The following Plymouth men were in the 29th regiment, be- 
sides those in Co. E : 

Edward L. Daniels, Co. H Ephraim T. Lucas, Co. H 

Curtis Eddy, Co. C Darius Perry, Co. H 

Company H, i8th regiment, three years. 

Joseph W. Collingwood, captain; Charles H. Drew, ist 
lieutenant, captain; Stephen C. Drew, ist and 2nd lieuten- 
ants. 

James S. Bartlett John F. Harten 

John Duffy John F. Hogan 

John Duffy, Jr. George P. Hooper 

Thomas Haley Frederick W. Robbins 

John M. Harlow Horatio N. Sears 



422 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



Members of other companies in i8th regiment were Wm. H. 
Winsor, ist lieutenant, captain. 
Ezra Burgess Zenas Churchill 

George W. Burgess J. Q. A. Harlow 

Winslow T. Burgess S. M. Maybury 

Winslow Churchill 

This regiment was engaged in the peninsula battles, the sec- 
ond Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg 
and the Wilderness. The following re-enlisted : Winslow T. 
Burgess, Co. E; John Duffy, Jr., Co. H; J. Q. A. Harlow, 
Co. C. 



Company E, 23rd regiment, 
Wm. B. Alexander, captain; 
ant, 1st Heutenant; Otis Rogers 

Charles H. Atwood 
Thomas C. Atwood 
William T. Atwood 
Ichabod P. Bagnall 
George Bailey 
Henry Baker 
Henry C. Bartlett 
Winslow Bartlett 
Edward Bassett 
Albert Benson 
George Benson 
Wm. T. Besse 
Edward D. Brailey 
John R. Brailey 
Homer Bryant 
Asaph S. Burbank 
David W. Burbank 
Wm. S. Burbank, Jr. 
James K. Burgess 
John Burns 
John E. Burt 
Augustus T. Caswell 
Thomas Chandler 
Joseph L. Churchill 
Wm. E. Churchill 
Francis E. Davis 
George H. Dunham 
George Feid 



three years. 

Josiah R. Drew, 2nd lieuten- 
, 1st lieutenant, captain. 

Walter H. Finney 
Theodore S. Fuller 
Warren Gibbs 
Henry Gould 
Samuel W. Holmes 
Hiram J. Lanman 
Charles H. Long 
Henry Marshall 
Perez McMahon 
Seth Mehuren, Jr. 
James W. Page 
Daniel H'. Paulding 
George O. Paulding 
Isaac H. Perkins 
N. B. Perry 
John D. Ryder 
Thomas S. Saunders 
Andrew T. Sears 
Edward Smith 
Jacob W. Southworth 
James C. Standish 
Charles C. Stevens 
Edward Stevens 
James H. Stillman 
George W. Swift 
Wm. A. Swift 
John Taylor 
Benjamin Westgate 



The following recruits joined the company while in the 
field : John Quinlan, Harvey A. Raymond and Horatio N. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 423 

Sears. The following were members in other companies in 

the 1 8th regiment: 

John Carline Seth Mehurin 

H. I. Lucas James Ryan 

The following members of Co. E re-enlisted. 
Charles H. Atwood Seth Mehurin, Jr. 

Icabod P. Bagnall James W. Pa^e 

Edward Bassett Isaac H. Perkins 

John Burns Andrew T. Sears 

George H. Dunham Charles C. Stevens 

Henry Gould James H'. Stillman 

The 23rd regiment sailed from Annapolis to Hatteras Inlet, 
Jan. 6, 1862, was at the reduction of Roanoke Island and other 
battles in North Carolina. In January, 1863, it went to Hil- 
ton Head, and in February returned to Newbem, and in Octo- 
ber went to Fortress Monroe and Newport News. In May, 
1864, it joined the army of the Potomac, and in September re- 
turned to Newbem. 

Company E, 32d regiment. Josiah C. Fuller, ist lieuten- 
ant, captain. 

James H. Allen Anthony L. Pierce 

Arvin M. Bancroft Weldon S. Pierce 

George W. Bartlett Henry L. Raymond 

George H. Blanchard Eleazer Shaw 

George B. Brewster Wm. H. Shaw 

John R. Davis, Jr. David A. Taylor 

George M. Heath Perez C. W. Vaughn 

Adoniram Holmes Weston C. Vaughn 

Wm. M. Lapham Seth Washburn 

Henry Morton, Jr. 

Company F. Edward F. Finney, 2nd lieutenant. 
Robert B. Barnes Moses Hoyt 

George B. Beytes Augustine T. Jones 

Albert F. Green Charles W. Pierce 

George F. Green Alexander Ripley 

Gustavus C. Green Wm. S. Robbins 

Richard F. Green Nehemiah L. Savery 

Wm. H. Green Winsor T. Savery 

Charles H. Holmes Edward S. Snow 

Joseph Holmes Charles F. Washburn 

John F. Hoyt 

In othei companies of 32d regiment. 
Patrick Downey John E. McDonald 

Melvin C. Faught Patrick McSweeney 

Abner Lucas James Rider 

Patrick Manehan 



424 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



The 32nd regiment went from Capitol Hill to Alexandria, 
Harrison's Landing, Williamsburg, Yorktown, Newport News, 
Fredericksburg and to Antietam, where it was in the reserve 
at the time of the battle. It was in the battles of Fredericks- 
burg and Gettysburg. The following Plymouth men in the 
32nd regiment re-enlisted : 

Nehemiah L. Savery 
Anthony L. Pierce 
Wm. H. Shaw 
David A. 1 aylor 
Perez C. W. Vaughn 
Weston C. Vaughn 



George W. Bartlett 
George H. Blanchard 
John R. Davis, Jr. 
George F. Green 
Gustavus C. Green 
Adoniram Holmes 
Abner Lucas 

The following re-enlisted 
credited to Plymouth : 
George W. Allen 
George C. Drown 



men from other places were 



Elliott Pierce 
Henry W. Roberts 

38th regiment, three years, Co. D. 

Albert Mason, ist lieutenant, captain, assistant quartermas- 
ter, U. S. Volunteers ; Francis Bates, musician ; Charles Ma- 
ist lieutenant, 2nd lieutenant. 

George B. Holbrook 
James Kimball 
Daniel Lovett 
Wm. W. Lanman 
Patrick Maguire 
Charles S. Peterson 
Bernard T. Quinn 
Frederick R. Raymond 
George B. Sawyer 
Thomas G. Savery 
Israel H. Thrasher 
James T. Thrasher 
Charles C. Doten, captain; 



son, 

James E. Barrows 
Gustavus D. Bates 
James A. Bowen 
Timothy Downey 
Benjamin F. Durgin 
Solomon E. Faunce 
George H. Fish 
Thomas Gallagher 
Albert F. Greenwood 
Benjamin Harvey 
Benjamin A. Hathaway 
John H. Haverstock 

Company G, 38th regiment. 



George B. Russell, 2nd lieutenant, ist lieutenant, captain V. R. 

Corps, 1st. lieutenant regular army, captain, major, lieutenant 

colonel ; Sanford Crandon, 2nd lieutenant ; Albert T. Finney, 

chief musician. 

Charles E. Barnes Frederick Holmes 

Joseph A. Brown Thomas Haley 

Job C. Chandler, Jr. Isaac T. Hall 

Timothy T. Eaton Wm. N. Hathaway 

Lemuel B. Faunce, Jr. Isachar Josselyn 

James Frothingham John Edgar Josselyn 

Edward E. Green Bernard T. Kelley 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 425 

Charles W. Lanman Horatio Sears 

Joseph McLaughlin Otis Sears 

Wm. Perry Joseoh F. Towns 

Christopher A. Prouty Charles C. White 

Heman Robbins John M. Whiting 

Levi Ransom Charles T. Wood 

Adrian D. Ruggles 

At the time the 38th regiment was enhsted the following 
were also enlisted: James D. Thurber, Co. A, 13th Massa- 
chusetts regiment, afterwards 2nd lieutenant, ist lieutenant, 
captain, brevet major U. S. Vols.- in 55th Massachusetts regi- 
ment. 

Erik Wolff, private, 20th Massachusetts regiment, 2nd lieu- 
tenant, 5th Massachusetts Cavalry. In January, 1865, Ed- 
ward Allsworth credited to Plymouth was added to the 38th 
regiment, and transferred to the 1 19th U, S. Cavalry, and com- 
missioned 2nd lieutenant. 

The 38th regiment went to Ship Island in November, 1862, 
and to Carrolton, near New Orleans, then to Bisland, then to 
Alexandria and Port Hudson. From Port Hudson the regi- 
ment went to Baton Rouge, Alexandria, Morganza Bend, Al- 
giers, and Fortress Monroe, where it arrived in July, 1864. It 
then Avent to Harper's Ferry, and the Shenandoah Valley, 
where it was engaged in the battles of Opequan Creek, Fish- 
er's Hill and Cedar Creek. In December, 1864, it went to 
Savannah, Newbern and Goldsboro, where it joined Sherman's 
army. In May, 1865, it went to Savannah, and embarking for 
Boston, June 30, reached Boston July 6, and was discharged 
July 13, 1865. 

Third regiment, nine months. John Morissey, major; 
Charles A. S. Perkins, ist lieutenant; Edward L. Robbins, 
sergeant major. 

Benjamin F. Barnes George F. Jackson 

Amasa M. Bartlett Benjamin F. Jenkins 

Ebenezer N. Bradford Charles W. Johnson 

John F. Chapman James Neal 

Charles S. Cobb Job B. Oldham 

George H. Doten James T. Paulding 

Harvey B. Griffin Charles M. Perry 

Isaac S. Holmes Charles C. Place 

Nathaniel Holmes Isaac H. Place 

Samuel N. Holmes Samuel R. Raymond 

Ivory W. Harlow Herbert Robbins 



426 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



James H. bobbins Thomas Smith 

James F. Sears Wm. F. Spooner 

Leander L. Sherman 

This regiment sailed from Boston for Newbern, N, C, Oct. 
22, 1862, and engaged in the battles of Kinston, Whitehall and 
Goldsboro. After various expeditions it returned to Newbern, 
and June nth, returned to Boston. 

Other Plymouth men in the nine months' regiments were : 
Schuyler S. Bartlett, 44th Wm. Hedge, 44th, ist Lieut. 

James B. Brewster, 44th hospital James R. McLaughlin, 50th 



Josenh H. Sears, 6th 
Winslow B. Sherman, 4th 
Wm. Stevens, 4th 
Sylvester R. Swett 



steward 
Wm. Burt, 4th 
George H. Cobb, 50th 
Edward H. Hall, 44th chaplain 
Horace Holmes 

Under the call of July, 1863, Wm. Ross, commuted, Horace 
P. Bailey, Jesse Harlow, George A. Whiting, Francis H. Rus- 
sell, Alfred Maybury, Edward W. Atwood, Wm. J. Dunham, 
Charles F. Ellis, John T. Stoddard, Lemuel B. Bradford, Lo- 
renzo M. Bennett, Charles F. Harlow and Gustavus G. Samp- 
son, found substitutes, and the following entered the service : 
Jedediah Bumpus, Co. C, 9th Thomas Dexter, 55th regiment. 

reeiment Charles E. Wadsworth, 12th regt. 

Under the call of January, 1864, Walter L. Gilbert was held 
and found a substitute, and the following recruits were obtain- 
ed in Boston : 



Dennis Bassingham, unattached 

Co. 
Wm. G. Blythe, 28th regiment 
Thomas Coogan, unattached 
David Dow, 2nd regiment 
John Ely, 2nd regiment 
Robert Henry, 5th cavalry 
Wm. Johnson, Sth cavalry 
I. Lang, 2nd regiment 
Peter H. Mara, 2nd regiment 
Michael Malony, 2nd regiment 



James McDonald, unattached 
Gustavus A. E. Miller, 20th regt. 
Wm. Mullens, 2nd regiment 
Thomas Nolan, 2nd regiment 
John Purdy, 2nd regiment 
Elbridge Reed, unattached 
John Slocum, 2nd regiment 
Edwin Terry, 2nd cavalry 
James White, 2nd cavalry 
Charles E. Williams, 5th cavalry 
George Williams, 2nd cavalry 



Under call of July, 1864, the following recruits were obtain- 
ed in Boston: 



James F. Andrews, 6ist regiment 
Thomas Bacon, 2nd regiment 
Charles Brooks, 26th regiment 
William Burns, 2nd regiment 
John Clark, 2nd regiment 
Henry Crosley, 5th cavalry 



Thomas Foley, 23d regiment 
Edward H. Forbes, 2nd cavalry 
Patrick Hogan, V. R. C. 
Alvin H. Henry, 2nd cavalry 
John A. Keefe, unattached 
Patrick Kelley, 2nd regiment 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



427 



Edward Kenney, 2nd, H. A. 

John Leach, V. R. C. 

Wm. Lee, 2nd regiment 

John Lyden, 2nd H'. A. 

Michael L Menagh, 35th regiment 

John O'Brien, 2nd H. A. 

Joseph O'Brien, V. R. C. 

Daniel E. Damon bought a representative recruit, 
attached company. 

Joseph L. Bartlett Abner Leonard, Jr. 

John F. Chapman Frank C. Robbins 

John C. Chase Wm. Waterson 

Nathaniel AI. Davis 

24th unattached company, Francis E. Davis, 2nd lieutenant. 



Abraham Page, 5th cavalry 
Edward Paine, 2nd cavalry 
Thomas Paine, V. R. C. 
John Riley, 2nd regiment 
Lewis Paszaut, 2nd cavalry 
Henry Robinson, 33d regiment 
Frank Smith, 27th regiment 

20th un- 



Charles D. Badger 
Edward D. Badger 
George Bailey 
Alexander J. Bartlett 
Jesse T. Bassett 
John R. Bradley 
John Brown 
Charles W. Bump 
Albert L. Burgess 
John E. Burt 
Wm. B. Burt 
Eugene Callahan 
Wm. H'. Churchill 
Charles F. Drake 
Samuel N. Dunham 
Sylvester Dunlap 
Wm. Dunlap 
Thomas H. Ellis 
George Green 
Wm. T. Harlow 



Isaac K. Holmes 
Seth L. Holmes 
Sumner Leonard 
Stephen M. Maybury 
Michael McCrate 
Thomas M. Nash 
Simeon L. Nickerson 
Stephen P. Nightingale 
Wm. T. Pierce 
Obed C. Pratt 
Charles Remington 
Thomas Ryan 
Barnabas E. Saver}^ 
Leander M. Vaughn 
Charles A. Washburn 
Daniel S. Wells 
Samuel A. Whitten 
John B. Williams 
Philip H. Williams 
Albert S. Wood 



Charles G. Hathaway 

The following is a list of Plymouth soldiers in the war in 
addition to the lists already mentioned : 
Charles B. Allen, 5th cavalry Orin Bosworth, 2d regiment 

Sherman Allen, 2nd sharp shooter-^ Ellis E. Brown, 5th cavalry 



Frederick Atwood, 7th regiment 
George H. Atwood, V. R. C. 
Mason B. Bailey, 7th battery 
Luther R. games, 58th regiment 
Ansel Bartlett, 58th regiment 
John W. Bartlett, 7th regiment 
Temple H. Bartlett, 58th regiment 
Otis L. Battles. 24th regiment, 3d 
R. L cavalry 



Daniel A. Bruce, 99th N. Y. 
Henry Bryant, 3d R. L cavalry 
Frederick W. Buck, 4th cavalry, 

4th Lt., 5th cavalry 
Luke P. Burbank, 34th regiment 
C. B. Burgess, 24th regiment 
Joseph W. B. Burgess, 8th regt., 

N. H. 
Phineas Burt, 58th regiment 



428 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



Horatio Cameron, ist cavalry 
Nathaniel Carver, 12th regiment, 

58th regiment 
John S. Cassidy, s8th regiment 
James H. Chapman, nth regiment 
James E. Churchill, ggth N. Y. 
John Cunningham, 9th and 32d 

regiments 
John Daley, i6th regiment 
Isaac Dickerman, 99th N. Y. 
Josiah M. Diman, loth Pennsyl- 
vania cavalry 
Maurice Dooley, 28th regiment 
Wm. L. Douglass, 58th regiment 
John Duffy, 2nd H. A. 
Wm. Duffy, ist cavalry 
Seth W. Eddy, 58th regiment 
Wm. Edes, nth regiment 
Samuel Eliot. 28th regiment 
Frank Finney, Sig. Corps 
Walter H'. Finney, 2nd H. A. 
Philander Freeman, U. S. Army 
Henry Gibbs, 99th N. Y. 
Phineas Gibbs, 24th N. Y. 
Thomas Gibbs, 3rd N. Y. 
Amos Goodwin, Sth cavalry 
Edwin F. Hall, 58th regiment 
George A. Hall, 5th cavalry 
Christopher T. Harris, 12th regt. 
Sylvanus K. Harlow, 20th regt. 
B. F. Harten, nth regiment 
Allen Hathaway, 99th N. Y. regt. 
Allen T. Holmes, Signal Corps 
Edwin P. Holmes, Davis Guards, 

Lowell 
Samuel N. Holmes, 3d R. I. cav- 
alry 
Wm. C. Holmes, President's 

Guard 
Daniel D. Howard, 58th regiment 
Charles H. Howland, 34th regt., 

Lieutenant Quartermaster 
Wm. H. Jackson 
Henry A. Jenkins, 5th battery 
George H. Jenness, 5th regiment, 

.N. H. 
John K. Kincaid, 58th regiment 
Wm. King, 13th regiment 
Wm. W. Lanman, 3d R. I. cavalry 



Melvin G. Leach 
James A. Lovell, 2nd H. A. 
John Matthews, 12th battery 
Stephen M. Maybury, i8th regt., 

24th infantry, 17th U. S. A. 
Wm. McGill 

Lewis S. Mills, 5th cavalry 
John Monk, 2nd H. A. 
Charles P. Morse, 17th regt., 

hospital steward 
Gideon E. Morton, 7th regiment 
Howard Morton, 30th regiment, 

2nd Lt. Corps, d'Af. 
James O'Connell, 28th regiment 
J. S. Oldham, 24th regiment 
J. T. Oldham, 24th regiment 
Frank W. Paty, 2nd H. A. 
Edward H. Paulding, 58th regt. 
John Perkins, loth N. Y. 
Alonzo H. Perry, s8th regt. 
R. W. Peterson, ist regiment 
Wm. A. Pittee, 2nd H. A. 
Albert D. Pratt 
James H. Pratt, 58th regiment 
Thomas Pugh, sth cavalry 
Charles Raymond, 7th regiment, 

Lt. Col. 
Samuel B. Raymond, 3 R. L cav- 
alry 
Edmund Reed, 58th regiment 
Edward L. Robbins, 2nd Lt. H. 

A., 2nd Lieutenant 
Herbert Robbins, 3d R. I. cav- 
alry 
Augustus Sears, 7th regiment 
George A. Shaw, Sth Illinois 
Winslow B. Sherman, 2nd H. A. 
Albert Simmons, 2nd H. A. 
George A. Simmons, 2nd H. A. 
James C. Standish, 2nd H. A. 
Charles B. Stoddard, 41st regi- 
ment, ist Lt. Q. M. 3rd cavalry, 
ist Lt. A. Q. M. 
John Sylvester, ist cavalry 
John Taylor, 58th regiment 
Wallace Taylor, 24th regiment 
J. Allen Tillson, 7th regiment 
Alexander J. Valler, 30th regt. 
David R. Valler, 58th regiment 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



429 



Taylor J. Valler, 17 regiment 
Ansel H. Vaughn, 4th cavalry 
Edward N. H. Vaughn, 99th 

N. Y. 
Benjamin Weston, California 

cavalry 



Benjamin F. Whittemore, 58th 
regiment 

Wm. B. Whittemore, 58th regt. 

John B. Williams, 3rd battery 

Erik Wolff, 5th cavalry. 2nd lieu- 
tenant 



The following Plymouth men entered the service during the 
Avar as officers in the navv : 



bherman Allen, mate 
Alexander B. Atwood, mate 
Edward Baker, master, acting 

lieutenant 
Winslow B. Barnes, mate 
Cornelius Bartlett, ensign 
Francis Burgess, master 
Victor A. Bartlett, sailmaker 



Nathaniel Goodwin, acting lieu- 
tenant 
Eliphalet Holbrook, mate 
George H. Holmes, master 
Charles H. Rowland, mate 
Lemuel Howland, Jr. mate, 
Wm. H. Howland, mate 
Wm. H'. Hoxie, mate 



Charles H. Brown, master, acting Franklin S. Leach, mate 



lieutenant 
Charles Campbell, mate 
Robert B. Churchill, 3rd, assistant 

engineer 
John F. Churchill, mate 
Wm. R. Cox, mate, ensign 
Francis B. Davis, ensign, acting 

master 
Wm. J. Dunham, 3d assistant 

engineer 
Alvin Finney, master 
Elkanah C. Finnev, mate 
GeoriTe Finney, master 
Robert Finney, mate 
Augustus H. Fuller, mate, ensign 
Ichabod C. Fuller, mate, ensign 
Ezra S. Goodwin, master 



Phineas Leach, master 

Wm. W. Leonard, mate, ensign 

Everett Manter, mate 

John Morissey, ensign 

Frank T. Morton, assistant pay- 
master 

Thomas B. Sears, Jr., master 

Amasa C. Sears, master 

Merritt Shaw, 3d assistant engi- 
neer 

E. Stevens Turner, master in 
com. 

Frank W. Turner, mate 

Adoniram Whiting, mate 

Benjamin Whitmore, master 

Henry C. Whitmore, mate 

John Whitmore, master 



Plymouth seamen in the service during the war : 



Wm. Archer 
Albert Ashport 
Richard Atwell 
Edward A. Austin 
Hiram F. Bartlett 
Temple H'. Bartlett 
Jesse T. Bassett 
Wm. Brown 
Caleb Bryant 
Henry Burns 
John B. Chandler 
Charles W. Chickering 
Solomon H. Churchill 



James Cook 
Ephraim Douglass 
Atwood R. Drew 
B. F. Dunham 
Robert Dunham 
James L. Field 
John Fisher 
George B. Foley 
Henry C. Gage 
Arthur M. Grant 
James Gray 
James Halpin 
Allen Hathaway 



430 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Edward W. Hathaway Hiraim S. Purrington 

Samuel Haskins George Rice 

Charles H. Hollis Orin W. Ring 

Thaxter Hopkins Francis Roland 

Wm. Horton Wm. C. Russell 

Edward Howland Martin H. Ryder 

George H. Jenness Harvey C. Swift 

Benjamin Kempton Wm. Slade 

WaUer S. King Albert Swift 

Josiah Leach Francis Sylvester 

Amos Lonnon Wm. H. Sylvester 

James B. Lynch Auguste Thomas 

Wm. H'. Maxey James E. Thomas 

Owen McGann E. F. Townsend 

Bache Melex George Tully 

John A. Morse Henry Vail 

John F. Morse James Welch 

Patrick Murphy Joseph Weston 

Sylvester Nightingale Joseph Wright 

Plymouth men killed during the Civil War: 

John K. Alexander, at Spotsylvania Court House, May 12, 1864. 

Lawrence R. Blake at Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862. 

Edward D. Brailey at Newbern, April 27, 1862. 

Jedediah Bumpus, June 30, 1864. 

Nathaniel Burgess, wounded at Fort Steadman, March 25th, 1865, died 

of wounds in July, 1865. 
Joseph L. Churchill at Newbern, March 14, 1862. 
Joseph W. Collingwood, at Fredericksburg. December 13, 1862, died 

December 24. 
Edwin F. Hall, at Coal Harbor, June 3, 1864. 
Frederick Holmes, at Port Hudson, June 14, 1863. 
Orin D. Holmes, at Fort Steadman, March 25, 1865. 
Thomas A. Mayo, at Gaines Mill, June 27, 1862. 
Lemuel B. Morton, at Spotsylvania Court House, May 12, 1864. 
Isaac H. Perkins, at Coal Harbor, June 3, 1864, died June 26. 
Harvey A. Raymond, at Whitehall, Dec. 16, 1862. 
Edward Stevens, at Whitehall, Dec. 16, 1862, died Jan. 19, 1863. 
David A. Taylor, at Petersburg, June 22, 1864. 
Israel H. Thrasher, at Port Hudson, June 14, 1863, died June 29. 
Benjamin Westgate, at Whitehall, Dec. 16, 1862. 
John M. Whiting, Opequan Creek, September 19, 1864. 

Plymouth m.en who died in the service. 
Wm. T. Atwood, at Newbern, July 20, 1862. 
George W. Barnes, at Harrison's Landing, August 3, 1862. 
Victor A. Bartlett, at Salisbury, March 25, 1864. 
Wm. Brown, on Ship Constellation, Dec. 24, 1864. 
George W. Burgess, Falmouth, March 8, 1863. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 

Joseph W. B. Burgess, at Washington, December 9, 1864. 

Thomas B. Burt, at Washington, October 31, 1862. 

John Carhne, at Roanoke Island, October 14, 1864. 

John B. Collingwood, at Cincinnati, August 21, 1863. 

Thomas Collingwood, Camp Parks, Kentucky, August 31, 1863. 

Isaac Dickerman, near Fortress Monroe, November 12, 1863. 

Benjamin F. Durgin, Baton Rouge, August 8, 1863. 

Seth W. Eddy, Readville. March 13, 1864. 

Wm. Edes, Andersonville, August 30, 1864. 

Melvin C. Faught, Windmill Point Hospital, Va., Feb. 5, 1863. 

Lemuel B. Faunce, Jr., Goldsboro, April 23, 1865. 

Theodore S. Fuller, Rebel Prison, probably Oct. i, 1863. 

Edward E. Green, Baton Rouge. July 11, 1863. 

Thomas Haley, St. James Hospital, La., April 5, 1863. 

Justus W. Harlow, near Ft. Monroe, September 17, 1862. 

Wm. N. Hathaway, Washington, Feb. 23, 1863. 

Thomas W. H'ayden, Crab Orchard, September 4, 1863. 

George M. Heath, Harrison's Landing, July 30, 1862. 

Horace A. Jenks, Mill Dale Hospital, Mississippi, July 24, 1863. 

Charles E. Merriam, Harper's Ferry, November 12, 1862. 

Gideon E. Morton, Fredericksburg, May 3, 1863. 

J. T. Oldham, Newbern, 1863. 

Louis Payzant. 

George T. Peckham, Knoxville, .Nov. i, 1863. 

William Perry, New Orleans, June 5, 1863. 

Thomas Pugh, at sea, November 18, 1865. 

Albert R. Robbins, Plymouth, March 5, 1864. 

Henry H. Robbins, Washington, December 4, 1863. 

Thomas S. Saunders, Roanoke Island, March 11, 1862. 

Otis Sears, Plymouth, January 5, 1864. 

Wm. H. Shaw, Plymouth, August 6, 1865. 

Edward Smith, Annapolis, May, 1862. 

John Sylvester, Andersonville, December 16, 1864. 

Wallace Taylor, Newbern, November 23, 1862. 

Frank A. Thomas, Camp Hamilton, September 14, 1862. 

Charles E. Tillson, Andersonville, July 14, 1864. 

E. S. Turner, Rio Janeiro, August 5, 1864. 

David R. Valler. 

Charles E. Wadsworth, Salisbury, Nov. 29, 1864. 

George E. Wadsworth, Camp Parks, Ky., August 30, 1863. 

John Whitmore, at sea, August, 1862. 

David Williams, Camp Dennison, Ky., September 14, 1863. 

Plymouth men wounded in the service. 
John K. Alexander, Antietam. 
Simeon H. Barrows, Hampton, July 14, 1861. 
Benjamin F. Bates, May 30, 1864. 
Charles H. Drev/, Fredericksburg. 



431 



432 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

John F. Hall, Newport News, 1862. 

James S. Holbrook, Wilderness. 

Charles E. Kleinhans, Fair Oaks. 

Charles E. Merriam, Malvern Hill. 

Seth W. Paty, Newport News and siege of Knoxville. 

John Shannon, Antietam. 

Samuel D. Thrasher, Wilderness. 

George E. Wadsworth, White Oak Swamp. 

Wm. H. Winsor, Fredericksburg. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 433 



CHAPTER XXXXI. 

In speaking- of the changes, in habits and customs, which 
have occurred in my day, it will be difficult to draw the line 
between those, which only my older readers will remember, 
and those more recent ones, which will be recalled by the 
young. In noting these changes I shall not confine myself 
to Plymouth, but shall as far as possible include those which 
have elsewhere come under my observation. The population 
of Plymouth in 1820, two years before my birth, was 4,384. 
Its growth to 11,017, in 1905, is one of the least remarkable 
changes in the history of the town during that period. Turn- 
ing, however, to the nationality of the population, we find a 
change which has kept pace with the growing facilities of 
international communication, and the restless tide of migra- 
tion, which characterized the 19th century. This change in 
nationality began to show itself about the time of my birth. 
Up to that time the population was not only practically wholly 
American, but also largely of Plymouth nativity. There are 
records showing that in 1813 there were two Irishmen, John 
Burke and Michael Murphy, living in Plymouth, and there 
are reasons for believing that they and their families were the 
only persons of Irish birth in the town. It is possible that the 
above two men were servants, or employees of Judge Joshua 
Thomas, who lived in the house on Main street, now called 
the Plymouth Tavern. At any rate, Judge Thomas must 
have felt a special interest in them, as in the year above men- 
tioned, 181 3, Bishop Cheverus, by his invitation, came down 
from Boston and celebrated mass for their benefit in the parlors 
on the southerly side of his house. It is undoubtedly true that 
Bishop Cheverus was the most distinguished Divine who ever 
visited Plymouth. He was born in Mayenne, France, Jan. 28, 
1768, and came to Boston in 1796, where he became associated 
with the Catholic mission. In 1803 he raised by subscription 
money to build the Catholic church in Franklin street, the site 
of which is now occupied by Devonshire street, and more than 
$3,000 of the sum raised was subscribed by Protestants, of 
whom John Adams headed the list. The esteem in which he 



434 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

was held in Boston was further shown by the gratuitous serv- 
ices of Charles Bulfinch, the distinguished architect, who furn- 
ished the design for the church, and by the gift of a picture 
of the crucifixion by Henry Sargent, a Boston artist, to place 
on its walls. Among the subscribers to the church fund were 
Harrison Gray Otis, Benjamin Crowinshield, Theodore Ly- 
man, Thomas H. Perkins and Samuel Dexter, and General 
E. Hasket Derby g'ave the church a bell. While in Boston 
Bishop Cheverus accepted invitations to preach in Protestant 
churches, following as he said, the example of Christ, who 
preached in the synagogues. In 1810 he was consecrated in 
Baltimore the first Bishop of Boston, and in 18 18 his associate, 
the Abbe Mantignon, died, at whose funeral the body was 
borne to the grave through the streets of Boston with the 
Bishop wearing ecclesiastical garments, and a mitre, presenting 
a novel scene to the eyes of New England people. In 1823, the 
Bishop was called to France to take charge of the Bishopric of 
Montauban, and in 1826 was nominated to the Metropolitan 
See of Bordeaux. In 1828 he was made councillor of state, 
and in 1830 commander of the order of the Holy Ghost. In 
February, 1836, he was made a Cardinal, and on the 9th of 
March received from Louis Philippe the Cardinal's hat. He 
died July 2d, 1836. 

Until ocean steamers were built of sufficient size to accommo- 
date steerage passengers, immigration was chiefly confined to 
the Irish, who came in the packet ships plying between London 
or Liverpool and New York, Philadelphia, or Boston. There 
were the Cambridge, Devonshire, London, Henry Clay, York- 
shire, Liverpool, Ashburton and Hottingeur, coming to New 
York; the Daniel Webster, North America, Anglo Saxon and 
Ocean Monarch coming to Boston, and the Tuscarora and 
Shenandoah to Philadelphia, and for some years their steerages 
were crowded with Irish immigrants. With the coming in of 
the steamers the numbers largely increased. It was during the 
period from 1835 to 1855, that the Irish element began to be 
perceptible to any considerable extent in Plymouth. Within my 
day the first Irishman to come to the town was John Cassidy, 
about 1820 or 1830. He had been living for a time in 
Boston, and there his son, John S., our townsman, was born. 
He was a blacksmith by trade, and a man of striking appear- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN, 435 

ance. He had two daughters, whom I knew very well, fine 
women ; Elizabeth, who married Gridley T. Poole, and Ellen, 
who married a Mr. Southmayd of Campton, New Hampshire.^ 
There was a Michael McCarthy who came not lonq- after Mr. 
Cassidy, whose daughter was the mother of our late towns- 
man, Timothy Downey. Quite a number came both before 
and soon after 1850, including Timothy and John Quinlan in 
1849, Jolin O'Brien in 1851, and not far from those dates Jere- 
miah Murray, John Murray, Timothy Regan, Wm. O'Brien, 
Timothy Lynch, James Ready, Timothy Hurley, James Lynch, 
James Burns, Barney Sullivan and others. For many years 
the number of Catholics in Plymouth was insufficient to main- 
tain a church, and father Moran of Sandwich, where the glass 
works had gathered a considerable Irish population, was in the 
habit of holding service once or twice in each month in the 
town hall and Davis Hall, and elsewhere, until the Catholic 
church was erected in 1874. 

After the advent of the Irish there was for some years quite a 
large Gennan immigration, which found occupation in the 
Cordage works at Seaside. The German population, however, 
was rather a changeable one, and after a few years of savings, 
it largely foimd its way west, and was followed in Plymouth by 
the Italians, French and Portuguese, who, added to the Irish, 
now make up nearly one quarter of the population of the town. 
The Portuguese have drifted here chiefly from Nev/ Bedford 
and Provincetown, to which places they found their way in 
vessels bringing the first catch of oil landed at the Western 
Islands by whale ships from those ports. The effect of this 
immigration on Provincetown has been remarkable. The first 
time I ever went to that town was in 1836, when I was per- 
mitted as a boy of fourteen to join a party of older persons in 
the sloop Thetis, going one day and returning the next. At 
that time its population was about two thousand, nearly all 
of whom were Cape Cod people, who had moved there to either 
engage in the whale or cod fishery, or to keep stores for the 
sale of ship chandlery and supplies of all kinds to vessels mak- 
ing harbor there. A man by the name of Lothrop from some 
up Cape town, kept a hotel, and by the aid of loam brought 
from distant towns, he was cultivating the only garden in 
town. The only street was parallel with the shore, and from 



436 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

fence to fence it was a bed of loose sand, through the middle 
of which everybody waded, the women I have heard it said, 
having a way of kicking their heels in walking by which they 
kept the sand out of their shoes. One of our party asked the 
landlord if he could have a horse and ride through the village. 
"My dear sir," said Mr. Lothrop, "there is not a horse owned in 
town, but the mail chaise will arrive about six o'clock, and per- 
haps the driver will let you have his horse." During the ad- 
ministration of Andrew Jackson not only was our National 
debt extinguished, but a very considerable surplus revenue 
grew up, which in 1836 was divided among the states in the 
form of a loan, each state giving its obligation to repay the 
loan if ever called for. Massachusetts distributed its share 
among the towns, and Provincetown spent her portion in build- 
ing plank sidewalks. At the present time the Portuguese con- 
stitute a majority of the population of the town. At the be- 
ginning of the civil war one of the measures proposed for the 
relief of the financial straits of the government was a call on 
the states for the payment of the loan above mentioned. It 
has been stated by Mr. L. E. Chittenden, Register of the Treas- 
ury under President Lincoln, that it was found at that time 
that the obligations of the Rebel states had mysteriously dis- 
appeared. 

One of the important results of the foreign immigration in 
Plymouth County, and probably elsewhere has been the solu- 
tion of the problem concerning the future of our abandoned 
farms. These foreigners, more especially the Portuguese and 
Italians, have picked them up one after another, and are pros- 
pering, where their former native owners failed. It miust not be 
forgotten, while considering changes in population and occupa- 
tion, that the abandonment of the fisheries has caused a great 
change in the industries of our town. With seventy-three ves- 
sels engaged in ihe Grand Bank fishery, as there were thirty- 
five years ago, our wharves and flake yards presented busy 
scenes. The large increase, however, of our coal and 
lumber trade, amounting now in the former, to thirty thous- 
and tons annually, has helped materially to prevent any recent 
depreciation of wharf property. 

I propose now to speak of the changes which have occurred 
within my recollection in carriages and in general methods of 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 437 

travel. I have in an early chapter referred to bu.o-.e^ies and 
wagons, giving- the derivation of their names, and the countries 
where they were originally used. The introduction of the 
carry-all in Plymouth occurred within my time, and as far back 
as I can remember there were only two, one in the stable of 
George Drew in Middle street, and the other owned by Bourne 
Spooner. It is generally supposed that its spacious interior 
gave rise to its name which, however, is really only a corrup- 
tion of the name of the French Carriole. A vehicle called a 
cab, which is simply an abbreviation of cabriolet came quite 
extensively into use in Boston about 1840, but never reached 
Plymouth, and in the city has now largely given way to a 
four wheeler, which retains the old name. The carriage known 
as a hack, brought to America from London, and receiving 
the name which there applied to the horse alone, was never 
introduced into Plymouth until 1870. At the celebration of the 
dedication of the Soldiers' Monument on Training Green in 
1869, the committee of arrangements borrowed one from Geo. 
W. Wright of Duxbury, and hired another in Boston. There 
is probably no city in the world in which the hack has been 
for more than a hundred years in such general use as in Boston. 
The superior quality for which Boston hacks have long been 
distinguished, has been probably due to the fact that wealthy 
families have patronized hack stables rather than keep carriages 
of their own, and they wanted the best. I can well remem- 
ber when there were not more than four private carriages and 
coachmen in Boston, and when nothing in livery was seen on 
its streets. About 1850 Mr. Deacon, who built an elegant 
mansion at the south end after the style of a French Chateau, 
surrounded by a high brick wall, set up a livery, and when his 
flunkey first appeared sitting like Solomon in all his glory on 
the box, he was followed and hooted at by the boys. The ve- 
hicle for many years in general use was in Boston, as else- 
where, the chaise. Lawyers and doctors and merchants con- 
stantly used them, and always drove themselves, while before 
the davs of street cars business men drove every morning into 
the city from suburban homes, and put up their horses for the 
day in some central stable. I remember stables in Cambridge 
street, Bowdoin Square, Howard street, Elm street. Brattle 
street, Devonshire street, Franklin street, Federal street, School 



43^ PLYAIOUTH MEMORIES 

Street, Bromfield street, Bedford street, West street and Charles 
street. With the introduction of street cars leading to neigh- 
boring towns, the livery business gradually disappeared, and 
the high price of central city lots has left the older sections 
of the city with scarcely a place where a horse can be put up 
for a night. These stables first found a new resting place in 
the extension of Chestnut street on the river side of Charles 
street, which Tom Appleton, the Boston wit, called Horse 
Chestnut street, but they have gradually extended to localities 
farther west. In the process of evolution the wheel has now 
turned, and the suburban business men are deserting the street 
cars, and, coming to Boston in their automobiles, instead of 
chaises, put them up for the day in the grand garage in Park 
Square. Again referring to the general use of chaises, I 
remember that such men as President Quincy, Lucius Manli- 
us Sargent, Ebenezer Francis and Jeremiah Mason were fre- 
quently seen driving their chaises, and Mr. Webster often 
rode in one over the road from Marshfield to Boston, holding 
the reins himself, and having a trunk lashed to the axle. Mr. 
Mason, above mentioned, the distinguished lawyer, one day 
when riding in his chaise, turned from Washington street into 
Spring Lane, and met a truckman coming up with his team. 
He was six feet six inches in height, but he always sat in his 
chaise so bent as not to appear to be a tall man. The truck- 
man called out to him to back out, which Mr. Mason was not 
inclined to do, as he would have to back up hill, while the 
truckman could more easily back down. Mr. Mason said 
nothing, but the truckman finally began to swear at him, and 
showed a disposition to fight. Mr. Mason becoming a little 
angry, began to straighten up and show his size, much to the 
astonishment of the man with the team, who called out, "for 
God's sake, Mr., don't uncoil any more, I '11 get out of the 
way." 

The stage derived its name, which it took from the stage 
coach of England, from the word stage, meaning a section or 
the whole of a road route. The name, however, reached New 
England many years before the arrival of the English coach, 
and was applied to a carriage of very different construction. 
The New England stage in the early part of the last century 
was a long covered wagon hung on leather thorough-braces, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 439 

and contained seats without backs, which were reached by 
climbing- over the seats in front. In 1801, according- to the 
Farmer's Almanac, there were twenty-five lines of coaches run- 
ning out of Boston, most of which started from the King's Inn 
on the corner of Exchange street and Market Square. The 
stages running to Cambridge and Roxbury and Brookline, 
made each two trips a day, and the stage to Plymouth made 
three trips a week by the way of Hingham, being ten hours on 
the road. The South Boston and Dorchester turnpike run- 
ning as far as Neponset River, was incorporated, March 4, 
1805, and the Braintree and Weymouth turnpike running from 
Quincy to Queen Ann's Corner in West Scituate, was incor- 
porated March 4, 1803. Thus a new route was opened by the 
last named turnpike, over which the fast line ran every dav, 
while the mail line ran every alternate day through Hingham. 
Until the Old Colony Railroad was opened these turnpikes 
were toll roads. After a few years the clumsy stage gave way 
to the well known English coach made with the addition of 
a middle seat with an adjustable back strap. With the ex- 
ception of the English post carriage a sort of a barouche 
drawn by two horses, one of which was ridden by a uni- 
formed postilion, I have never found a more comfort- 
able and attractive traveling carriage. In 1846 I rode 
with the coachman on one of these coaches from Glas- 
g-ow to Carlisle, ninety miles, in nine hours, with the four 
horses on the gallop, and never leaving the centre of the track. 
The red coated guard occupying a seat at the back of the coach, 
warned with his horn every team to clear the road, and when 
passing a post office he threw off a mail pouch and took an- 
other from a hooked rod, held up by the master of the post. 
On approaching a station for change of horses, the guard 
gave notice with his horn, and the coachman halting in the 
middle of the road, dropped his reins right and left, and four 
hostlers, two to unhitch, and two to hitch, would have a new 
team ready with a delay of not more than two minutes, the 
coachman leaving his seat but once in the nine hours. During 
the last years of these coaches the schedule time of a trip from 
London to Edinburgh, four hundred miles, was forty hours. 
The hansom, which for more than fifty years has been used 
in London, has found a difficult entrance into Boston, but is 



440 TLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

now gradually finding its way into use. The fares charged 
for them are much lower in London than in Boston. In 1895 
I took one at the railway station and rode with a fellow pas- 
senger to Morley's hotel at Trafalgar Square, nearly three 
miles, and paid two and six pence for the two, while in Bos- 
ton the charge would have been from two to three dollars. 

The introduction of omnibuses in Boston, first used in Lon- 
don, was very gradual. Having an aunt living in Cambridge, 
one of my excursions during my vacation visits in Boston was 
to her home, and thus I became early familiar with the meth- 
ods of communication with that town. As long ago as I can- 
remember these omnibuses, taking the place of the old coaches, 
made only two or three trips a day, in answer to calls entered 
on a slate at the office in Brattle street, picking up passengers 
at their houses, and dropping them at their destinations. As 
business increased, passengers were obliged to take the om- 
nibuses at the office, starting at every hour, and thus 
they became known as hourlies. Their business was partially 
interrupted for a time by the construction of a branch of the 
Fitchburg railroad, which had a station about where the law 
school is now located, but it was soon abandoned, and the track 
was taken up. 

As I have begun to speak of matters connected with Boston, 
I may as well speak of the changes in that city since my early 
boyhood. For this digression I ask to be excused. I was 
almost as familiar with Boston, when a boy, as I was with 
Plymouth, as I spent nearly every vacation there with my 
grandmother who lived in Winthrop Place, which, with Otis 
Place, formed a circuitous avenue, entering from and return- 
ing to Summer street. Summer street during my early life 
was distinguished, not onlv for its beautiful shade trees and 
elegant houses, but also for its notable residents. Among the 
latter whom I remember were, Dr. Jacob Bigelow, Robert C. 
Winthrop, Dr. Putnam, Edward H. Robbins, Nathaniel God- 
dard, John Wells, Horace Gray, John P. Gushing, Benjamin 
Buzzey, Charles Tappan, Edward Everett, Rev. Dr. Nathaniel 
Langdon Frothingham, John C. Gray, Benjamin Rich, Rev. Dr. 
Alexander Young, Wm. Sturgis, Joseph Bell, Benjamin Lor- 
ing, James W. Paige, and Daniel Webster. There also were 
Trinity church on the north side, and the Octagon church, Un- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 44 1 

itarian, at the junction of Summer and Bedford streets, while 
in Winthrop and Otis Place lived Rufus Choate, Abel Adams, 
Wm. Perkins, Samuel Whitwell, H. H. Hunnewell, George 
Bond, Henry Cabot, Joshua Blake, George Bancroft, Nathaniel 
Bowditch, and Israel Thorndike. 

When that neighborhood was changed from a residential to 
a business one, Winthrop Place was extended across Franklin 
street to State street, the whole taking the name of Devonshire 
street. From Franklin to Milk street the nucleus of the ex- 
tended street was Theatre Alley, so-called, because in the alley 
was the stage entrance of the Federal Street Theatre. The 
Catholic church, which stood on the south side of Franklin 
street, was taken down to make way for the extended street. 
Ma'am Dunlap's famous cigar, snuff and tobacco store, whicii 
every gentleman in Boston knew, partly on account of the 
quality of her goods, and partly on account of the beauty of 
her daughter Rachel, stood on the west side of the alley. Bos- 
ton has always been famous for its alleys, at least fifteen of 
which I remember. They furnished very convenient cut 

shorts for those who were in a hurry, or did not wish to en- 
counter undesirable friends. Mr. Choate, whose office was 
on the southerly corner of Court and Washington streets, lived 
at different times at the United States hotel, in Edinboro street 
and Winthrop Place, and in going home he invariably went 
down State to Devonshire street, and thence through Theatre 
Alley and Catholic Church Alley. The Alley from State 
street to Dock Square, now called Change Alley, was formerly 
called Flagg Alley, taking its name from its pavement of flagg- 
stones, which again took their name from Elisha Flagg, who 
about 1750 opened a quarry in Grafton, and furnished Boston 
and some other New England towns with slabs of that descrip- 
tion. For some unknown reason alleys seem to have been 
peculiar to seaport places like Provincetown, Salem, Marble- 
head, Newburyport and Plymouth, in the last of which were 
in my day, Thomas's Alley, Cooper's Alley, LeBaron's Alley, 
Spooner's Alley and Clamshell Alley, all of which remain 
except Thomas's Alley on the south side of the estate of Col. 
Wm. P. Stoddard, which was closed some years ago, under an 
agreement with the town. 

On the south side of Franklin street, until about 1800, known 



442 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

as Barren's pasture, extending from the Catholic Alley, now 
Devonshire street, up to Hawley street, there was a single 
block called the Tontine block, such as we ought to see more of 
in Boston today. It was designed by Charles Bulfinch, and 
contained sixteen dwelling houses, with a front curved to cor- 
respond to the curve of the street, and built with a palace front, 
two houses at each end projecting about six feet, and the 
centre carried up higher than the rest of the building, and 
built over three arches, a central arch for a street called Arch 
street to pass through, and one smaller arch on each side over 
the Arch street sidewalks. A door under the arclT led up to 
the old Boston Library, which is still in existence with a home 
in Boylston Place. The block was built on the Tontine plan, 
with a certain number of owners, the property descending to 
the survivors. After some years its tontine feature was 
abandoned and the property divided among the survivors. 

All through my boyhood, Franklin, Federal, Atkinson, now 
called Congress, Pearl, High, Purchase, South, Lincoln, Sum- 
mer, Arch, Winter, Tremont, West, Bedford, Chauncy, Boyl- 
ston, Essex and Kingston streets, Otis Place, Winthrop Place 
and Fort Hill were occupied by dwelling houses. Fort Hill, 
which rose about twentv-five or thirty feet above Pearl street, 
was cut down in 1865, and High street extended across it. 
Pemberton hill, the residence of Gardner Greene, was cut down 
in 1835 to its present level, and Pemberton Square laid out for 
houses. The estate covered by Pemberton hill was a famous 
historic estate. It was occupied by Sir Harry Vane in 1636, 
by Rev. John Cotton and his son Seaborn, John Hull, Wm. 
Vassall, Madame Hayley, the society leader in Boston, Jon- 
athan Mason, and Gardner Green. The house of Mr. Green, 
which was taken down in 1835, was built by Mr. Vassall in 
1760. When the hill was levelled, a rare tree called the 
Gingko, brought from China, was removed to the Common, 
slips from which are now standing on the grounds of Jason W. 
Mixter and B. F. Mellor in Plymouth. 

When the city government decided to remove the hill 
Patrick T. Jackson, in behalf of the city, made a contract with 
Asa G. Sheldon of Wilmington to perform the work and fill 
the flats north of Causeway street. Mr. Sheldon moved the 
Gingko tree to a spot on the Common near the Beacon street 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 443 

mall on a stone dray drawn by oxen, driven by Waterman 
Brown of Woburn. 

Washington street, once called the Neck, was until 1786 the 
only way in and out of Boston. South Boston, then a part 
of Dorchester, could only be reached by the way of Koxbury ; 
and Cambridge could not be reached except by ferrv, only 
by going through Roxbury and Brookline. The Charles River 
Bridge Companv was incorporated March 9, 1785, and built 
the old Charlestown bridge, which was opened June 17, 1786. 
This bridge furnished a new and convenient route to Cam- 
bridge. The West Boston Bridge Company was incorporated 
March 9, 1792, and built the bridge extending from Cam- 
bridge street, which was opened November 23, 1793. These 
two bridges continued as toll bridges until January 30, 1858. 
Dorchester Neck, now known as South Boston, was annexed 
to Boston, March 6, 1804, then having only ten families, and 
on the same date the South Bridge Co. was incorporated. The 
Dover street bridge was built by that company, and opened 
Oct. T, 1805, and was sold to the city April 19, 1832, and made 
free, tolls having been charged up to that time. Canal bridge 
now Craigie's Bridge, a toll bridge, leading to East Cambridge, 
was built by a company incorporated Feb. 2^, 1807, and after 
its purchase by the state, was made free January 30, 1858. On 
the 14th of June, 1814, Isaac P. Davis, Uriah Cotting and Wm. 
Brown, and their associates, were incorporated as the Boston 
and Roxbury Mill Corporation, who built the mill dam lead- 
ing from Beacon street to Brookline, over which a road was 
opened July 2, 1821. This was a toll road, and during my 
college life the toll gate was located a little east of Arlington 
street, and tolls were collected until it was laid out as a high- 
way, Dec. 7, 1868. The Boston Free Bridge Corporation was 
incorporated March 4, 1826, and built the South Boston 
Bridge, which crossed Fort Point Channel at Sea street, and 
was bought by the city September 16, 1828, and called Feder- 
al street bridge. The Warren Bridge Corporation was in- 
corporated March 11, 1828, and opened Dec. 25, in that year. 
Tt was assume'd by the state in 1833, and made free in 1858. 

Between the toil gate on the IMill Dam and Brookline there 
were no houses, and what is now called the Back Bav extended 
from the Mill Dam to Washington street. In this connec- 



444 TLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

tion the statement may be interesting^ that in 1830 the pastur- 
age of cows on the Common was for the first time forbidden 
by a city ordinance. 

When I was ten years old, my great uncle, Isaac P. Davis, 
who was born in 1771, and who as one of the corporators of 
the Mill Dam, was familiar with that neighborhood, took me 
one day down to the corner of Boylston street and Charles 
street, and said to me, William, here was the original bank of 
Charles River, and on this spot the British embarked for 
Charlestown on the morning of the battle of Bunker Hill. I 
was also told by one of the building committee of Trinity 
church, that in driving piles to support the foundation, the bed 
of an old channel was found where hard bottom could not be 
reached, and the expedient was adopted of clearing away the 
earth between the piles several feet down and filling the space 
with cement, thus holding them from the top instead of sup- 
porting them at the bottom. On this foundation, containing 
either five thousand piles at a cost of $7 each, or seven thous- 
and at a cost of $5, 1 have forgotten which, the structure stands 
without a crack, to show any settling. If an X ray could 
penetrate the sub-surface of the Back Bay, it would disclose 
thousands of piles with a composite between, of old hats, bon- 
nets, shoes, hoop skirts and tomato cans on which stand the 
domiciles of wealth and fashion. Perhaps, however, such a 
foundation is as genuine and real as that on which stands fash- 
ion itself. In my youth the South Bay, east of Washington 
street, was open to the harbor through Fort Point channel, only 
obstructed by the Dover street, and the old South Boston 
bridges. At that time the yards of the houses in Purchase 
street extended to the water, and Atlantic Avenue, north of 
Dewey Square, was built along the harbor margin. Thus with- 
in my recollection, there have been added between the Mill 
Dam and Washington street, Boylston street, Huntington, 
Columbus, Atlantic, Shawmut and Harrison avenues, all built 
where once was water, and adding more than eight hundred 
acres of made land to the old peninsula of Boston, which con- 
tained only six hundred and ninety. Until 1852 the Common- 
wealth owned 2,453,730 square feet of land in the Back Bay, 
which in that year it began to have filled with the view of sell- 
ing it. At that time it was estimated that the land was worth. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 445 

less the cost of filling:, $906,516.00. The conservatism of this 
estimate is shown hy the fact that in 1872 $3,551,514 liad 
been received from sales, or $2,044,294 taking out the 
cost of filling, and 500,000 square feet remained unsold, 
valued at $750,000, leaving a profit to the Commonwealth of 
$1,887,178. In view of the probably speedy and profitable 
sales of this land, the question came up in the legislature of 
1859, when I was a member of the Senate, whether it would not 
be well to devote a part of the proceeds of these sales to educa- 
tional purposes, and petitions were presented looking to this 
end, which were referred to the committee on education, of 
which I was chairman. After several hearings I drew up a re- 
port at the request of the committee, and after I submitted it to 
the legislature, the daily papers paid it the unusual compli- 
ment of printing it m full. Resolves accompanied the report, 
giving $100,000 to the Museum of Natural History and Com- 
parative Zoology in Cambridge, fifty thousand dollars to Tufts 
college, and $25,000 each to Amherst and Williams colleges, 
and the Wilbraham academy, and in addition a substantial 
amount to enlarge the school fund of the state. Against some 
opposition the Resolves were passed by both branches of the 
legislature, and it has always been a source of satisfaction to 
me that I was in some degree instrumental in prosecuting to a 
successful issue a measure so plainly conducive to the best 
interests of the state. 

One of the most striking changes in Boston within my time, 
has been the change in the location of meeting houses from 
those localities where they were once marked features, to the 
newer parts of the city. While many of the meeting houses 
which stood sixty years ago in Purchase street, Summer street, 
Hollis street, Cambridge street, Chambers street and Hanover 
street, have been abandoned, and others in Federal street, 
Franklin street. Summer street, Washington street and Essex 
street have been replaced by new, no less than twenty-five have 
been built in sections which in 1840 were covered by water. 
Thus the money changers, instead of being driven out of the 
temple, have driven the temples away from the haunts of trade. 

In recalling these recollections of Boston, to which I have 
merely glanced, it seems to me that I have witnessed its 
growth from youth to age. There are other evidences of its 



446 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

growth than those to which I have alluded. I was told many- 
years ago by Edwin Rice, a resident in East Boston, which now 
contains a population of thirty thousand, that when he settled 
there its population did not exceed a hundred. I recall sitting 
one calm summer afternoon nearly seventy years ago on the 
grassy bank of Noddles Island, as East Boston was called, 
now covered with a dense population, and listening to the roar 
of the city across the harbor. I do not remember to have 
heard it before or since. The experience was an interesting 
one. There was no single distinguishable sound, but the rattle 
of wheels on the pavement, the footfall of horses on the bridg- 
es, the hammer on the anvil, the drum of a passing band, the 
cries of street venders, and, perhaps the rustle of trees and 
the voices of boys at play, all mingled in a continuous rumble 
of a busy, populous city. It has been stated that during the bat- 
tle of Waterloo the people of Brussells heard neither the rattle 
of musketry, nor the booming of cannon, but both were com- 
bined in an unbroken roar of the battle field. In recalling that 
summer afternoon at East Boston, I have thought that the 
voices of the past, not the voice of this man or that, performing 
his part in the drama of life, but the voices of all good and 
great men who have lived and died need time and distance 
to be blended as a harmonious whole in the grand symphony of 
civilization. 

In 1832 the whole of East Boston, containing 663 acres of 
upland and marsh with the flats contiguous thereto and one 
house, was bought by Wm. H. Sumner, Stephen White, Fran- 
cis J. Oliver and others for about $80,000, and the East Boston 
corporation was soon after formed. From that time it rapid- 
ly grew, attracting a large population, and becoming a hive of 
industry^ Before the civil war two hundred and thirty or 
more vessels had been built on its shores, with a measurement 
of more than two hundred thousand tons. Ship builders 

were drawn there from the shallow waters of Duxbury, the 
North river and other places, among whom the chief were 
Samuel Hall, Donald McKay, Daniel D. Kelly, A. & G. T. 
Sampson, Jackson & Ewell, Paul Curtis, Jarvis Pratt, Brown, 
Bates & Delano, Robert E. Jackson, Andrew Burnham, Brown 
& Lovell, Hugh R. McKay, G. & T. Boole, Wm. Hall, Pratt & 
Osgood, Samuel Hall, Jr., Joseph Burke, Wm. Kelly, Otis 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



447 



Tufts, Burkett & Tyler, C. F. & H. D. Gardiner; E. & II. O. 
Brigfgs. There Donald McKay built the fleet of ship.s which 
made his name famous. The followinir is, I believe, a correct 



list of his vessels : 












Anglo Saxon, 


894 


tons 


Star of Empire, 


1635 


tons 


Ocean ^Monarch, 


1301 


tons 


Romance of the Seas, 


I SOD 


tons 


Washington In'ing, 


751 


tons 


Challenger, 


1400 


tons 


New World, 


1404 


tons 


Lightning, 


2083 


tons 


Moses, 


700 


tons 


Great Republic, 


4556 


tons 


Anglo American, 


704 


tons 


Champion of the Seas, 


2447 


tons 


Az, 


700 


tons 


James Baines, 


2526 


tons 


Jenny Lind, 


533 


tons 


Commodore Perry, 


1964 


tons 


PljTnouth Rock, 


960 


tons 


Santa Claus, 


1256 


tons 


Helicon, 


400 


tons 


Benin, 


692 


tons 


Reindeer, 


800 


tons 


Blanche Moore, 


1787 


tons 


Parliament, 


998 


tons 


Japan, 


1964 


tons 


Moses Wheeler, 


900 


tons 


Adriatic, 


1327 


tons 


Antarctic. 


1116 


tons 


Mastiff, 


1030 


tons 


Daniel Webster, 


1 187 


tons 


Zephyr, 


1 184 


tons 


Staghound, 


1534 


tons 


Defender, 


I4I3 


tons 


Flying Cloud, 


1782 


tons 


Donald McKay, 


2594 


tons 


Staffordshire, 


1817 


tons 


Abbott Lawrence, 


1497 


tons 


North American, 


1469 


tons 


Amos Lawrence, 


1396 


tons 


Sovereign of the Seas, 


2421 


tons 


Minnehaha, 


1695 


tons 


Westward Ho, 


1650 


tons 


Harry Hill, 


568 


tons 


Bald Eagle, 


1704 


tons 


Baltic, 


1720 


tons 


Empress of the Seas, 


2200 


tons 


L Z, 


897 


tons 



The total tonnage of the above, forty-six ships, was 67,041, 
averaging 1,457. The greatest achievements of these vessels 
were the passage of the Flying Cloud, Capt. Cressey, from New 
York to San Francisco in 89 days, and the run by the Sover- 
eign of the Seas of 430 geographical miles in 24 hours. 

Some of the customs prevailing in my youth and early man- 
hood may be as interesting as the topographical changes in Bos- 
ton. There was no day police established in Boston until 1854, 
and old Constable Derastus Clapp stationed in and about State 
street, was the only officer ever seen. In the above year a police 
force, under the direction of a chief, was established, but not 
uniformed until 1856. I remember that the newspapers on a 
day after the 4th of July, commented with pride on the quiet 
and peaceful dispersion of the crowd on the Common, witness- 
ing the fireworks the evening before, without a police officer to 
keep them in order. There were only night watchmen with 
their rattles who cried the hour with "All is well." Thev 



448 TLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

wore in cool weather plaid camlet cloaks, and as there was a 
city ordinance forbidding smoking- in the streets, which by the 
way has never been repealed, I have many a time when meeting 
them concealed my cigar until they were out of sight. My 
readers may not be aware that a by-law was adopted in Plym- 
outh in 1 83 1, which is still in force, forbidding smoking in any 
street, lane or public square, or on any wharf in the town. 

Ringing the bell at various hours during the day and even- 
ing for the convenience of the inhabitants, has so far as Plym- 
outh is concerned, been confined to the town sexton. Since, 
however, the ringing has been detached from the duties of a 
sexton proper, who was an officer of the church, the name sex- 
ton in our town is now given to the bell ringer, who continues 
to be chosen by the town every year, though he has now no con- 
nection with the church. The first mention of a sexton in the 
town records is under date of 1712, when Eleazer Rogers was 
chosen "to ring the bell, sweep the meeting house, keep the 
doors and windows of said meeting house shut and open for 
the congregation's use upon all occasions, and carefully look 
after said house as above said." Tn 1714 he was required 
to ring the bell at nine o'clock every evening. From 
that time to this a town sexton is chosen each year, who since 
the severance of the First Church from the town no longer 
rings the bell for church, while each church has its own sex- 
ton for that duty. The custom in Plymouth is to ring the 
Town bell as follows at 7 a. m., 12 noon, i p. m. and nine p. m., 
all the year ; 6 p. m. when the sun sets after that hour, and on 
Saturdays 5 p. m., instead of 6. This custom of bell ringing 
existed in Boston, as well as other places, and I have heard 
it stated that the Old South Church bell was rung as late as 
1836 at II a. m. to announce "the grog time o' day." The 
nine o'clock evening bell had its origin in the ancient curfew 
bell, which derived from the French words, "convre feu," 
was rung at an hour when the fires in houses should be covered 
up. It was adopted in New England merely to indicate the 
hour. 

There was a method in Boston of lighting the street lamps, 
which was primitive. The city was divided into districts, and 
a lamplighter was appointed for each district. The lamps 
were all oil lamps until 1834, and each lighter would start from 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 449 

home in the morning- carryings a ladder, a can of oil, and a filled 
and trimmed lamp. He would take the old lamp out of the 
first lantern, putting the fresh one in its place. He would 
then fill and trim the lamp he took out and go on to the next 
lantern, and so on through his district. There was another 
custom, so far as I know peculiar to Boston, where domestic 
life was less extravagantly and luxuriously enjoyed than in 
New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. Few families kept men 
servants, and many gentlemen, rather than impose the work 
of blacking boots on servant girls, or have blacking in the 
house, fell in with a plan suggested by the Brattle street ne- 
groes. For many years the shops on the south side of that 
street were chiefly occupied by shoe blacks and negro dealers 
in second hand clothing. Some of these negroes went about 
on the first of January and secured lists of subscribers for their 
work for the year as a milkman or an ice man would for his 
milk or ice. If, for instance, he was a beginner in the indus- 
try, he would start out early in the morning with two rods 
about eight feet long, and an inch or more in diameter, and 
calling at the house of the first subscriber, take his boots and 
stringing them by the tugs on a rod like herrings on a stick, 
go the rounds of his subscribers, and the next morning ex- 
change the clean boots for soiled ones. A more general em- 
ploA'ment of men servants, and finally boot black shops and 
stands put an end to this custom. 



450 TLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXXXII. 

The changes in the militia system of Massachusetts within 
my memory have been great, but in my judgment not material- 
ly for the better. There are always those who are anxious to 
tinker existing methods of doing things and 

"Who are apt to view their sires 
In the light of fools and liars," 

and the organization of the militia has not escaped their 
meddlesome hand. Under the militia law in force when I was 
£i boy, every man between the ages of eighteen and forty-five 
was enrolled, and was required to appear at an annual inspec- 
tion and drill. The volunteer militia and some specified per- 
sons, were exempted from this service. These enrolled men 
were called militia men, and on the day fixed by law those in 
Plymouth appeared on Training Green, and after being duly 
inspected, were generally dismissed. But this was not invaria- 
bly the case. I remember one year when a newly chosen cap- 
tain determined to exact of his company all the duties, which 
the spirit, if not the letter, of the law required. Much to the 
discomfort of his men he marched them through town and 
nearly out to Seaside, and made it known that the legal fine 
would be imposed on all delinquents. I have a distinct recol- 
lection of their march up North street, their line extending in 
single file from Water to Court street. The younger men in 
the ranks enjoyed the fun, each carrying his musket as was 
convenient to himself, and some wearing knapsacks of do- 
mestic manufacture, displaying devices intended to excite the 
applause of the accompanying crowd. Apples and peanuts 
were freely indulged in, while long nine cigars and pipes of 
extraordinary proportions left a trail of smoke like the steam 
from a locomotive. It was not, however, the law, but the 
method of enforcing it, which made the annual inspection a 
farce, and if it be necessary to inculcate a martial spirit in the 
community and maintain a volunteer militia, it would be well 
to revive the old law and re-establish the old militia from which 
volunteers could be drawn. 

Under the old system, the volunteer militia was in a healthy 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



451 



condition, and was at the height of its glory when the Civil 
War broke out. It was divided into divisions, brigades and 
regiments, and for many years there were in Plymouth an in- 
fantry and an artillery company ; an infantry and artillerv 
company in Abington, and infantry companies in Carver, 
Plympton, Halifax, Middleboro, Bridgewater, and I think 
Hingham. There were in those days annual brigade or regi- 
mental musters, and the musterfield in Plymouth was what is 
now the Robbins' field, opposite to the house of Gideon F. 
Holmes. Those musters were great occasions for the boys, 
and we were always on hand, not caring whether school kept or 
not. We carried out our programme for the day to the minut- 
est detail. We were on hand in Town square when the Carver 
company abandoned their wagons and began their march to 
the tented field. We then inspected the caparisoned horses 
of Col. Thomas Weston of Middleboro and his staff in the 
)'ard of Bradford's tavern, and when under escort of the Stan- 
dish Guards and the Plymouth Artillery, they marched to the 
music of the Plymouth Band, we followed, and perhaps 
reached the field in tmie to witness the arrival of the Halifax 
Light Infantry and the Plympton Rifle Rangers. A few cents 
in our pockets were sufficient to carry us through the day. 
The company drills, the dress parade and the sham fight re- 
ceived our careful attention, and the casualties in the last were 
on one occasion less than they would have been had not a ram- 
rod fired bv a careless soldier found a target in a distant barn. 
When I recall my experience at muster I am reminded of a 
remark made by Edward Trowbridge Dana, a brother of the 
late Richard H. Dana, after a service at the old Trinity church 
in Summer street, in Boston, in which Bishop Eastburn offici- 
ated. The Bishop was an Englishman, a handsome man. and 
splendid horseman, whom I have often seen riding in Boston 
streets wearing top boots, and looking as if he had been 
accustomed to following the hounds. He was as showy in 
the pulpit as in the saddle, and impressed his hearers more by 
his voice and gestures than by the matter of his discourse. On 
the occasion referred to, Dana, when asked by a friend on 
coming out of church, how he liked the Bishop, replied, "I feel 
as I used to when a boy on the muster field, belly full of water- 
melon, and head full of bass drum." It was at one of the 



452 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

musters above referred to held in Dedham that a new, slangy 
name was introduced. It was when the temperance 
movement was active, and the sale of intoxicating 
liquor was kept as much as possible out of public 
sight. One of the side show tents at the muster in question 
exhibited over its entrance a large canvass bearing a picture 
of a striped pig, which could be seen for a fee of ninepence. 
This new zoological specimen attracted great attention, and 
crowds learned novel lessons in Natural History. The exit 
from the tent was in the rear, and it was observed that every 
zoological student came out wiping his lips, while a large num- 
ber returned for a second sight of the "critter." 

I have said that at the time the Civil War broke out the 
volunteer militia was in its prime. Under the law each com- 
pany furnished its own uniforms, while the state furnished to 
the privates arms and equipments. Such men as George T. 
Bigelow, afterwards Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial 
Court, Lincoln Flagg Brigham, afterwards Chief Justice of 
the Superior Court, Ivers J. Austin, John C. Park, and El- 
bridge Gerry Austin, attorneys at law, Newell A. Thompson, 
merchant, and Charles O. Rogers, editor of the Boston Journ- 
al, were captains of companies. With a population in the state 
of less than thirteen hundred thousand, the militia force was 
5,593 officers and men, while in 1905, with a population of 
three millions, it is no larger, which is equivalent to a falling 
off of fifty per cent. The idea underlying the plan of the re- 
formers of the militia was to bring it up to the standard of 
the regular army, which any practical man must see cannot be 
done, with volunteer enlistments, small pay and an exaction of 
service which busy men cannot afford to render. The first blow 
struck at the life of the militia by the meddlers, was to make 
the regiment instead of the company the unit of organization, 
and have all the companies in the regiment uniformed alike. 

Under this system the individuality of the company was 
lost at once, its pride and esprit de corps were extinguished. 
Even the names of company commanders became practically 
unknown, and as galley convicts are known by their number, 
the companies were only known by their letter. Before 
the war every boy in Boston knew the New England Guards, 
the City Guards, the Boston Light Infantry, and the Fusileers, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 453 

and as each paraded in the streets, every man was ambitious 
to have his company excel in numbers, in dress, and in march. 
On one occasion the Boston Light Infantry with Dod worth's 
Band marched up State street one hundred and seventeen 
strong, and the next day the City Guards with the Brigade Band 
marched up the same street with one hundred and eighteen m 
the ranks. The flourishing condition of the Independent Corps 
of Cadets, shows what the Volunteer Militia might have been 
without the so-called reform to which I have alluded. The 
death blow to the volunteer militia was struck when the pres- 
ent armory law was enacted. The requirement that towns, in 
which companies are chartered, shall furnish armories, has ex- 
tinguished the militia in the towns, in only five of which, out 
of three hundred and twenty-one, companies now exist. To 
make the army law the more destructive in its effect on the mil- 
itia, the most extravagant demands were made by the authori- 
ties for accommodations, in many instances including the equip- 
ment of club houses, which towns with a due view to economy 
were not disposed to meet. Aside from all other considerations 
the armory law is not only oppressive in its operations, but it 
violates the underlying principles of our constitution, to wit : 
equality of taxation and the enactment of equal laws, inasmuch 
as it imposes for the support of a state institution, burdens on 
a few towns and exempts all the rest. It is not an answer to 
this objection to say thar towns incurring armory expenses re- 
ceive certain reimbursements from the state, inasmuch as the 
reimbursement ceases with company disbandments, and towns 
losing it are left with an armory on their hands for the erection 
of which they have incurred large expense; and inasmuch, 
also, as the towns maintaining armories, are also taxed for 
their share of the reimbursements. It is not a rash prophecy 
that if the present m.ilitia laws continue in operation, not many 
years will elapse before militia organizations will be confined 
to the cities of the Commonwealth. In closing the forego- 
ing narrative concerning the militia, it will be proper to refer 
more particularly to the Plymouth volunteer companies. The 
Plymouth Artillery was organized January 7, 1777. Thos. 
Mayhew was the first commander, and as far as I have been 
able to ascertain, it was commanded afterwards until its dis- 
bandment about the year 1850 by the following captains : Geo. 



454 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Drew, 1804-09; Wm. Davis, 1810-15; Southworth Shaw, 1816- 
20; John Sampson, 1821-24; Nathaniel Wood, 1825; Joseph 
Allen, 1826-29; David Bradford, 1830-32; Eleazer Stephens 
Bartlett, 1833-35 ; Wm. Parsons, 1836-39 ; Ephriam Holmes, 
1840-41 ; David Holmes, 1842 ; Wendell Hall, 1843-45 ; Samuel 
West Bagnall, 1846-47; Ebenezer S. Griffin, 1848; and Lt. 
Robert Finney, 1849. The field pieces furnished to the com- 
pany by the state were kept for many years in a gun house lo- 
cated by permission of the town on the northeast corner of 
Training Green, which on the disbandment of the company 
was sold to Henry Whiting, Jr., who made of it the house in 
which he lived and died on the east side of Sandwich street, 
next to the south corner of Winter street. 

The Standish Guards was chartered in 1818, and its com- 
manders up to the time of its disbandment in 1883 were : 
Coomer Weston, Bridgham Russell, James G. Gleason, John 
Bartlett, Wm. T. Drew, Jeremiah Farris, Coomer Weston, Jr., 
Barnabas Churchill, Benjamin Bagnall, Sylvanus H. Churchill, 
Charles Raymond, Joseph W. Collingwood, Charles C. Doten, 
Josiah R. Drew, Stephen C. Phinney, Herbert Morissey and 
Joseph W. Hunting. The present Plymouth company was 
chartered in 1888, and attached as Company D to the Fifth 
Regiment. In 1770 a powder house was built by the town at 
the northwesterly end of Burial Hill, which was removed with- 
in the memory of the present generation. It was intended as 
a place of deposit for powder belonging to the town, but a 
vote was passed by the town requiring all powder brought into 
town by any person to be placed in it, excepting amounts not 
exceeding fifty pounds in the hands of any trader, and twenty 
pounds in the hands of any other inhabitant. The tablet con- 
taining an inscription, which was originally placed in the wall 
of the building is now in Pilgrim Hall. 

I do not intend to say much more concerning Boston, but as 
every eastern Massachusetts person looks on that city as his 
own, I have ventured to say more than I otherwise would. Un- 
til about the time of the Revolution there were no sidewalks 
in the city, and most of the streets were paved with cobble 
stones and sloped toward the centre, thus forming a surface 
drain. That style of street was rather Dutch than English, 
and may still be seen in Holland. It was universal in New 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 455 

York until the middle of the eighteenth century, when Mad- 
am Provost laid down flagstones called walking-sides, for the 
convenience of visitors to her business offices. The surface 
drainage above referred to was universal in Plymouth until 
after South Pond water was introduced in 1855, when the 
numerous wells in town were converted into cesspools, and in- 
itiated the first step in the present sewage system of the town. 
Before leaving Boston a few words about its theatres and 
its harbor and navigation will not be out of place. The first 
theatre was established in 1792 in Hawley street, but though 
its representations were advertised as moral lectures, it was 
suppressed as violating the law. The law was repealed in the 
same year, and on the 3rd of February, 1794, the Federal street 
theatre, on the corner of Franklin and Federal streets was open- 
ed, and burned in 1798. It was at once rebuilt and reopened 
in the same year, continuing until 1833, under various manag- 
ers as a popular resort. During its career Edmund Kean, Ma- 
cready, J. B. Booth, and John Howard Payne, appeared on its 
stage, and in 1832 I attended a performance there by the Rav- 
els in a play called "The Skaters of Smolenska," of 
which I have a vivid recollection. In later years I 
had the pleasure of an intimate acquaintance with John How- 
ard Payne, who at the age of twenty created a sensation 
in the theatrical world under the soubriquet of the youthful 
Roscius, and who later was the author of "Sweet Home." He 
was born in Easthampton, Long Island, June 9, 1792, and ap- 
peared at the Park theatre in New York, February 24, 1809, 
as "Young Norval." On June 4, 181 3, he appeared at the 
Drury Lane Theatre in London. He left the stage after a 
few years, but remained in London engaged in writing plays, 
among which were "Brutus," which still holds its place on the 
stage, "Therese" and "Charles the Second." He also wrote 
"Clari, or the Maid of Milan," which was produced as an 
opera, and contained the song which gave him special distinc- 
tion. In 1832 he returned to the United States, and in 1841 was 
appointed Consul at Tunis. On his removal from office by Polk 
in 1846, he started for home, but lingered in Paris while efiforts 
were making for his restoration to the Consulate. In the au- 
tumn of that year I formed an acquaintance with him, whicli 
became intimate. We were in the habit of dining together 



456 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

frequently at Tavernier's restaurant in the Palais Royal, and 
one day while we were strolling through the quadrangle of the 
Palais where fountains were playing, bands performing, and 
children amusing themselves, he called my attention to a round 
window in the rear attic of the Palais, where, separated from 
the main building, rooms were let for various purposes, and 
said, "In that room with a scene like this before my eyes, I 
wrote 'Home Sweet Home.'" He further said that he had come 
over from London discouraged, in want and almost in despair, 
and with the thought of home the words came to his lips and 
were uttered like a sigh for the scenes of his youth, which he 
feared he should never see again. He was restored to his 
Consulate, and died in Tunis, April lo, 1852. How easy it is 
to imagine him looking from that window on the gay scenes 
below and uttering the words : 

"An exile from home, pleasure dazzles in vain, 

Ah, give me my lowly thatched cottage again; 

The birds, singing sweetly that came to my call, 

Give me them and that peace of mind dearer than all " 

His body was brought home and buried, I think, in Wash- 
ington. 

In 1827 the Tremont theatre was built and opened on the 
24th of September. In 1842 it was sold to the Baptist So- 
ciety, of which Rev. Dr. Colver was pastor. In 1831 a build- 
ing on Traverse street, known as the American amphitheatre 
was built by W. and T. L. Stewart, which was opened in July 
as the Warren Theatre, but replaced in 1836 by the National 
Theatre, which was burned in April, 1852. It was again re- 
built, and finally destroyed March 24, 1863. In January, 1836, 
the Lion Theatre was opened on Washington street, on the site 
of the present Keith's Theatre, and later as the Melodeon, was 
the scene of performances by Macready, Charlotte Cushman 
and others. In 1841 the Eagle Theatre was built on the comer 
of Haverhill and Traverse streets, but was soon abandoned. 
In 1841 the Boston Museum was established on the corner 
of Tremont and Bromfield streets, and in 1846 was removed to 
the site which it recently occupied north of King's Chapel 
Burial ground. During the Millerite excitement in 1843, the 
Miller Tabernacle was built on Howard street, and converted 
into the theatre called the Howard Athenaeum, in 1845. I^ 



OF AX OCTOGENARIAN. 457 

was opened October 13 in that year, and was burned in Feb- 
ruary, 1846, in which year the present Howard Anthenaeum 
was built. In 1848 the Beach Street Museum was erected, but 
had a short Hfe. The present Boston Theatre was built in 
1854, and at that time was exceeded in capacity by only six 
theatres in the world. To return to the Federal street theatre, 
which I have said was abandoned for dramatic purposes in 1833. 
the building passed in 1834 into the possession of the Academy 
of Music, and was called the Odeon. In 1846 it was leased 
for a time again as a theatre, and was afterwards occasionally 
used for short seasons by Italian Opera companies, by the Cen- 
tral Church, and by the Lowell Institute, until it was taken 
down in 1852. 

In connection with the theatres it will not be out of place 
to speak of Concert Hall, which once stood on the comer of 
Hanover and Court streets, built about 1750, and taken down a 
few years ago to widen the first mentioned street. Before and 
during and after the Revolution it was a famous place for con- 
certs, balls and other entertainments. I have a card of invita- 
tion issued by the officers of the French fleet, then in Boston 
harbor, to a ball to be held there. It is printed on the back 
of a playing card, showing the straits to which Boston was re- 
duced during the Revolution. In my boyhood I saw there an 
exhibition by Maelzel of his famous diorama of the "Confla- 
gration of Moscow," and of his "automaton chess player," 
which beat Boston's best players, but was finally discovered to 
have a small humped-backed dwarf concealed inside. There, 
also, I saw an exhibition of legerdemain by a colored man named 
Richard Potter, who also exhibited in Pilgrim Hall about 183 1. 
He was born in Hopkinton, Mass., on the estate of Sir Harry 
Frankland, one of whose slaves named Dinah, and brought 
from Guinea, was his mother. After attending school he went 
10 England with a Mr. Skinner of Roxbury, and there learned 
the magician's art. In 1836 Concert Hall was taken by Peter 
B. Brigham, and occupied as a hostelry, where could be found 
the best oysters and the most famous drinks. He was notable 
for the concoction of new alcoholic mixtures, to which he gave 
such names as "Tip and Ty," "I. O. U.," "Paris White," "Fis- 
cal Agent," "Free Soiler," "Same Old Coon," "Clay Smash," 
"Webster eye-opener," and "Deacon Grant." He made a 



45^ PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

fortune, a large part of which was bequeathed for the erection 
of a hospital now building. 

It may be asked how, before the introduction of railroads, 
the producers in remote sections of New England found a 
market. Every valley and hillside yielded bountiful crops, 
and every water privilege had its little mill, and of course 
the farmer and manufacturer depended for returns from their 
labor on the markets of the seaboard. The market gardeners of 
Waltham and Brighton and Cambridge found no difficulty in 
supplying daily the markets of Boston, and the brigs, schoon- 
ers and sloops, plying as packets between Boston and the vari- 
ous ports along the shores of New England, brought to the 
metropolis the products of a considerable territory lying along 
the banks and head waters of the Penobscot, the Kennebec, 
Merrimac and Connecticut rivers. But the large district be- 
yond the reach of these outlets was obliged to largely depend 
on teams and baggage wagons for transportation. While I 
was in college, from 1838 to 1842, there was a ceaseless pro- 
cession of these teams passing through Cambridge from Ver- 
mont, New Hampshire and distant parts of northern Massa- 
chusetts. They brought butter, cheese, lard, eggs, poultry, 
potatoes, apples, cider, hams, pork, shoes, wooden ware, chairs, 
and other articles of the field and shop, and returned with sup- 
plies needed at home. Teamers put vip their teams at one of 
the numerous taverns in the immediate neighborhood of Bos- 
ton and, discharging their freight in the city early the next 
morning, reloaded their wagons and returned to their putting 
up place, starting for home the next day. The taverns, which 
depended for support almost entirely on these teamsters, were 
the Norfolk House in Roxbury, the Cattle Fair Hotel in 
Brighton, the Punch-bowl m Brookline, Porter's Tavern in 
North Cambridge, and others in Cambridgeport, Medford, 
Watertown, Waltham, East Cambridge and Charlestown, 
The best known of these were Porter's and the Cattle Fair, 
and hardly a night did they fail to find numerous patrons who 
sat around a huge wood fire playing checkers or loosening their 
tongues with plentiful libations of mulled wine or flip. In the 
vicinity of Porter's there was for some years a race course, 
which afforded to the students of Harvard frequent oppor- 
tunities to violate the rules of the college. Both at Port- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 459 

er's and the Cattle Fair house weekly cattle fairs were held. 
and cattle, horses and sheep and hogs, were sold to cus- 
tomers, who with fat wallets had come from many scores 
of towns to buy. These customers were market men and stable 
keepers from towns within a radius of at least fifty miles, and 
drove their purchases home over the roads and yarded them 
until ready for slaughter or sale. I have heard it said that no 
keener eye, or shrewder judgment of the value of a fat yoke 
of oxen than those of the late Amasa Holmes of Plymouth 
v/ere to be found in the cattle yards of Cambridge and Bright- 
on. 

Having referred to the taverns in the vicinity of Boston, 
supported by the commerce on the road, and by the cattle fairs, 
I am led to speak of the hotel system in Boston, as I remember 
it seventy years ago, when the population was eighty thousand. 
At that time, omitting only very small taverns, 1 remember 
Doolittle's Tavern in Cambridge street, the Pemberton House 
in Howard street, the Pavilion, the Albion and the Tremont 
House in Tremont street, the New England House in Clinton 
street, two taverns near Haymarket Square, the American and 
Webster Houses in Hanover street, Wilde's Tavern in Elm 
street, the City Tavern m Brattle street, the Stackpole House 
on the corner of Milk and Devonshire streets, the Exchange 
Coffee House in Congress Square, the Pearl Street House on 
the upper corner of Milk and Pearl streets, the Commercial 
Coffee House on the lower corner of Milk and Battery March 
streets, the Bromfield House on the south side of Bromfield 
street, the Marlboro Hotel in Washington street, nearly op- 
posite Franklin street, the Washington House on the east side 
of Washington street, a little south of Milk street, and the 
Lamb Tavern on or near the site of the present Boston Thea- 
tre. The United States Hotel which comes a little within the 
seventy years, was built by a company not far from 1840 on 
land bought of the South Cove Company. The South Cove 
Company owned flats bought of the city in 1833, extending 
from Essex street to the old Federal street bridge, measuring 
about seventy-three acres, and bounded on the west by Harri- 
son avenue as far as Dover street bridge, including lands which 
for many years were the sites of the Boston and Albany and 
Old Colonv Railroad stations. While workmen were ex- 



460 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

cavating for the foundations of the United States Hotel, I re- 
member seeing in the trench the timbers of an old wharf. 
Some of the houses I have mentioned have been historic. 
Paran Stevens, who kept the New England House, was en- 
gaged to keep the Revere House, when it was opened in 1844, 
and was the landlord later of the Tremont House, the Battle 
House in Mobile, and the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York, 
in the last of which he made an ample fortune. The Tremont 
House was opened by D wight Boyden in 1829, and with the 
exception of Mr. Stevens, he alone made the house profitable. 
The United States Hotel was opened and kept some years by 
Albert Clark and Ralph W. Holman. Mr. Clark went from 
the United States to the Brevoort House in New York, and 
retired a millionare. Up to the time during the Civil War, 
when the cost of Hying was advanced, the highest price per day 
for transients was two dollars, but on the claim that the cost 
of maintaining a boarder had doubled, the daily charge was 
doubled, and consequently the profits were also doubled. In 
1845 I boarded at the United States Hotel, and paid for room 
and board five dollars a week, and during the winters of 1858 
and 1859, while in the Senate, I boarded at the Tremont House 
and paid for board and room eight dollars per week. It is 
true that the comforts and conveniences in hotels have vastly 
improved. It is difficult to realize that at that time a visit to 
the lavatory involved in the winter an uncomfortable, if not 
dangerous exposure to the outer air. The sewage arrange- 
ments for hotels as for other houses, were entirely inadequate 
to the demands of the city, and the vaults were emptied by 
teams from Brighton, which were not permitted to enter the 
city until ten o'clock at night. In very many private yards 
there were pumps in close proximity to these vaults, and it is 
a wonder that the health of the city was not seriously im- 
paired. The teams I have referred to were nightly strung 
along on Cambridge bridge, waiting for the hour, and were 
called by the college boys, "Brighton Artillery." The sewage 
question was an unsolved one in Boston for many years, and 
the necessity of ventilating sewers was little realized or under- 
stood. When water closets and set bowls were introduced, it 
was supposed that traps with standing water would prevent 
the passage of deleterious gas. It was, however, discovered 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 461 

at last, that while odors mig-ht thus be excluded, the dang-er- 
ous gases, which were inodorous, could not be kept back bv 
water. Thus two things became necessary, to wit, individual 
\'entilators connected with bathroom plumbing, and a proper 
ventilation of public sewers. I remember that many years 
ago the city Government in response to complaints of water 
spouts which discharged their water on the sidewalks, passed 
an ordinance requiring all spouts to enter the sewers. The 
Board of Health at once protested against the adoption of such 
an arrangement on the ground that spouts would discharge 
sewer gases through the house gutters in the immediate vicin- 
ity of sleping room windows ; but it was soon discovered that 
such a general ventilation of the sewers prevented the forma- 
tion of gases, and was a conservator of health. 



462 FLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXXXIII. 

I have suggested that some notice would be taken by me of 
the changes which have taken place in seventy years in the 
marine aspects of Boston. To a nautical eye these changes 
have been great. Seventy years ago the wharves from 
India wharf to what is now the Gas House wharf, were 
occupied by full rigged ships, square rigged brigs, top- 
sail schooners and sloops, engaged in traffic with the north- 
west coast, Valparaiso, China, Calcutta, the Mediterranean, 
England, the Western Islands, Nova Scotia, the Penobscot 
and Kennebec rivers, Portland, New York, Philadelphia, Bal- 
timore, the James river, Wilmington, Savannah, Charleston, 
New Orleans, and every New England port. There were the 
ships Akbah, Atlas, South America, St. Petersburg, Asia, Daniel 
Webster, and the brigs. Emerald, Ruby, Topaz and Amethyst 
in the European trade ; the ships of Bryant and Sturgis in the 
northwest coast trade ; of Elisha Atkins in the South Ameri- 
can trade ; John H. Pearson in the New Orleans trade ; Daniel 
C. Bacon in the Calcutta trade, and shippers without number 
engaged in trade with many American ports. Besides these 
there were steamers running to Bangor, Bath and Portland, 
and during the summer to Plymouth, Barnstable, Hingham and 
Provincetown. The whole wharf front of Boston was not more 
than a mile long, but ship's royal masts and yards exhibited 
a tangle of spars in strong contrast with the scene to-day. 
South Boston at that time displayed an expanse of flats now 
covered with docks of the greatest capacity. East Boston was 
without wharves, and Charlestown outside of the Navy Yard, 
added little to the commercial aspect of the harbor. When 
the Cunard steamers began to arrive in 1840, there was not a 
towboat in the harbor, and when the steamer Brittannia of the 
Cunard line was getting ready on her return trip to Liverpool, 
set down for February 3, 1844, the harbor was closed solid 
with ice, which it was feared would prevent her departure. 
But the Boston merchants realizing the importance of holding 
Boston as the sailing port of the Cunard company, made a con- 
tract with Gage & Hittinger, a firm largely engaged in cutting 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 463 

ice and shipping it to ports in warm latitudes, to cut a passas-e 
to the sea one hundred feet wide, and seven miles long, through 
ice nearly two feet thick. This was done, and the steamer 
sailed on schedule time, much to the pleasure and profit of the 
Cunard Company, and to the credit of the city. At about that 
time the tug boat R. B. Forbes was built by the underwriters, 
and was for some years in their service. One of her first op- 
portunities to render aid was I think, in 1848, when the steam- 
er Cambria, inward bound from Liverpool, went ashore back of 
Truro. One Sunday morning, on my way to church, I met 
Mr. George Baty Blake driving into town, who told me that 
the Cambria, in which he was a passenger, was ashore, and 
that he was on his way to Boston to obtain aid in hauling her 
off. 1 went with him to see the station master, Henry Carter, 
and Joseph Sampson, conductor, and in an hour he was on a 
locomotive bound to Boston. So expeditiously was Mr. 
Blake's service rendered, that before daylight the next morn- 
ing the Cambria had been hauled off by the R. B. Forbes, and 
was on her way to Boston. Mr. Blake had been a frequent 
Cunard passenger, and told the captain that if he would put 
him ashore he would send the R. B. Forbes down. 

How things have changed. A ship is now rarely seen, brigs 
have disappeared altogether, topsail schooners from Nova 
Scotia occasionally visit Boston, and the old packet sloops have 
lost the rosewood and bird's eye maple of their cabins, and 
been degraded to uses of which they seem to be ashamed. Now 
and then I read on the stern of a weather beaten coal barge 
the name of a ship I knew in her prime, which seems to me like 
a wing clipped eagle no longer able to soar, or a disembodied 
spirit suffering for sins done in the body. In view of the 
changes it is thoughlessly said that the commerce of Boston has 
declined, but there can be no greater mistake. It must be re- 
membered that the tonnage of vessels has largely increased. 
The seven masted schooner Thomas W. Lawson alone, with a 
carrying capacity of six thousand tons of coal, making ten 
trips a vear, represents the arrival of one hundred ships of the 
carrying capacity of the largest tonnage seventy years ago, 
while leaving out of the calculation tramp steamers, the reg- 
ular liners with cargoes of two thousand tons each, represent 
three hundred more. Coming down to actual statistics, th.e 



464 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

customs receipts at Boston have increased from 190 1 to 1905, 
inclusive, two millions of dollars, and the entering tonnage 
during the same time, has increased 456,392. The com- 
plaint of a sluggish condition of our commerce is based on 
the fact that our foreign trade is largely in the hands of 
aliens. Some seek a remedy in subsidy to American ships, 
but the question may be asked whether it will not be well, be- 
fore taking a subsidy out of the treasury, a large portion of 
which will find its way into the pockets of the steel barons of 
Pennsylvania, to try the simpler remedy of taking the duty 
from coal and iron, and compelling manufacturers to sell at 
home structural steel used in building ships at prices as low 
as they sell to foreign ship builders. 

Turning now to railroads, whose entire history is covered 
by the period of my life, I suppose I may say without the pos- 
sibility of a denial, that no invention or discovery has within 
seventy years been more eflfective in developing the resources 
of our country, maintaining its integrity, and promoting its 
interests than the railroad system. The use of coal has been 
too great to be accurately measured, but without railroads 
that product of the mines would be still sleeping in its beds. 
The telegraph and telephone aiiford business facilities, which 
are thought indispensable, but they are only the inevitable fol- 
lowers of the railroad, and even depend on its lines for the 
stretching of their wires. Without gas or kerosene oil, and 
with wood for fuel, we could have still enjoyed hfe, though 
it be without present conveniences, comforts and luxury. 
Without railroads it is not too much to say that it would have 
been impossible to dispose of, and assimilate that vast im- 
migration which during the last seventy years has sought a 
resting place in our land. It may also be said that the railroad 
system, which broke through the wall that separated the old 
Union from California, prevented the establishment 
of a new and distinct empire on the Pacific coast. With- 
out attempting even a sketch of the history of the 
railroad system, it is sufficient to say that at its in- 
troduction the road bed, motive power and cars were 
rude and primitive. The locomotives weighed not far from 
eight tons ; the cars running on a single truck were built after 
the fashion of stage coaches with doors on the sides, and the 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 465 

rails weighed fifty pounds per yard. When Gridley Bryant 
of Boston invented the double truck, I was told by his son, 
the late Gridley J. F. Bryant, that he was laughed out of the 
room of a committee of the Massachusetts Legislature when 
he suggested that long cars with two double trucks could safely 
run on a curved track. The committee had not learned the 
lesson, which the distinguished scientist, Professor Dionysius 
Lardner, learned at a later period, that it is never safe to deny 
the possibility of anything. In 1838 he declared that ocean 
steam navigation was impossible on account of the inability of 
any vessel to carry sufficient coal for a trans-Atlantic voyage, 
and yet before the year passed, in which the declaration was 
made, the steamship Sirius of seven hundred tons and two hun- 
dred and fifty horse power arrived in New York April 23d in 
nineteen days from Cork; and on the same day the steamship 
Great Western of thirteen hundred and forty tons and four 
hundred and fifty horse power, arrived in fifteen days from 
Bristol. I feel pretty sure when I deny that two and two make 
six, but if anyone should offer to bet with me that within five 
years it will be demonstrated that the earth stands still, I should 
be afraid to accept the ofifer. In June, 1827, when the con- 
struction of a road from Boston to Albany was first agitated, 
Jos. Tinker Buckingham, the learned editor of the Boston 
Courier, wrote an editorial for his columns, which contained 
the following paragraph : 

"Alcibiades, or some other great man of antiquity, it is 
said, cut off his dog's tail, that quid nuncs might not become 
extinct for want of excitement. Some such motive, we doubt 
not, moved one or two of our natural and experimental phil- 
osophers to get up the project of a railroad from Boston to Al- 
bany; a project which every one knows, who knows the simp- 
lest rules in arithmetic to be impracticable but at an expense a 
little less than the market value of the whole territory of 
Massachusetts, and which if practicable, every person of com- 
mon sense knows would be as useless as a railroad from Bos- 
ton to the moon. Indeed a road of some kind from here to the 
heart of that beautiful satellite of our dusky planet would be 
of some practical utility, especially if a few of our national, 
public spirited men, our railway fanatics, could be persuaded 
to pay a visit to their proper country." 



466 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

As is well known, the first railroad built in New England 
was a short road extending from the Quincy granite quarries 
to Neponset River, whicli was opened Oct. 7, 1826, to be used 
with horsepower for the transportation of granite to tide wa- 
ter. In June, 1830, the Boston and Lowell railroad was incor- 
porated, and in 183 1 the Boston and Providence, and the Bos- 
ton and Worcester. I have heard it said that the curves on the 
easterly end of the Boston and Worcester were due to the ex- 
pectation that horse power would be used, and to the conse- 
quent desirability of as level a track as possible. Though 
when the construction of some of the Massachusetts roads was 
begun it was planned to run them by horse power, the plan was 
changed before the roads were completed. On the Baltimore 
and Ohio road, which was begun in 1828, horses were used for 
some time, and the station between Baltimore and Washington, 
called the Relay House, took its name from the fact that relays 
of horses were taken there. In 1830 there were only forty- 
eight miles of railroad in the United States. 

The Boston and Worcester began to run trains as far as 
Newton, May 16, 1834, on a running- time of eighteen miles an 
hour, and I remember well seeing one of the earliest trains start 
from the station which was then in Indiana Place, and I was as 
much astonished as I should be while writing these words to 
see an air car stop at my roof to receive passengers for Boston. 

Some of the early railroads outside of New England were 
built with longitudinal sills of timber laid on ties, to which flat 
bars of iron from a half to three quarters of an inch thick were 
spiked, called strap rails. In the summer of 1843 I went to 
Buffalo, passing over roads owned and controlled by I think, 
seven distinct corporations ; the Boston and Worcester, the 
Western, as the road from Worcester to Albany was called, the 
Albany and Schenectady, the Schenectady and Utica, the Utica 
and Syracuse, the Syracuse and Rochester, and the Rochester 
and Buffalo. At that time the cars, instead of being drawn 
by the locomotive around capitol hill as now, at Albany, were 
drawn to the summit of the hill by cables worked by stationary 
engines, and there attached to the locomotive. The rail used 
at that time on all the above mentioned roads which were in 
New York, were strap rails. It was soon found, however, that 
these rails became loosened at their butts, and being underrun 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 467 

by the wheels peeled up, often running throug-h the car floors 
and m some cases fatally injuring passengers. These loose 
ends were called snake heads, and were as much to be feared as 
the snags on the Mississippi River sixty years ago. 

On my return from Buffalo I took a passenger boat on the 
Erie Canal from Rochester to Syracuse, and had my first and 
only experience on the "raging canawl." The cabin of the 
boat was handsomely fitted up, and had sleeping berths so ar- 
ranged as to be unfolded at night. The dinner furnished was 
good, and on the whole the novelty of the trip made it inter- 
esting. We were somewhat uncomfortable sitting on deck in 
the blazing sun, and when the cry of "low bridge" v/as called, 
obliging us to duck our heads as we passed under the various 
highways crossing the canal, I felt like one of the brakemen on 
the top of a freight car, liable to be swept off unless I was con- 
stantly on the alert. The rate of speed, not more than three 
or four miles an hour, was not especially exhilarating, but the 
operation of raising and lowering the locks relieved somewhat 
the monotony of the journey, and the opportunity afforded for 
an occasional run on the tow path, or a visit to the store of 
some shady hamlet for the purpose of purchasing such luxuries 
as the larder of the boat was unable to furnish, altogether made 
the trip one to be remembered. 

It may surprise some of my readers to learn that, in the de- 
cade from 1835 to 1845, the United States was far in advance 
of both England and France in the construction of railroads. I 
speak from my own knowledge and experience when I say that 
after all the main railroad lines in the northern states had been 
completed some years, there was no railroad in England north 
of York on the east, or north of Manchester on the west. In 
the summer of 1846, in making the circuit from York through 
Newcastle, Edenboro, Perth, Dunkeld, the Trosacks, Glasgow, 
Carlisle and Lancaster to Manchester, I was obliged to go eith- 
er by coach or post carriage all the way. So in France in the 
same summer, I found only one section of rail laid between 
Boulogne and Paris, and in December of that year not a fin- 
ished mile between Paris and Marseilles. Gangs of men, who 
were called Navvies, were housed along the line between Lan- 
caster and Carlisle grading a road bed, and in France I found 
on the route from Boulogne to Paris that a device had been 



468 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

adopted by which the railroad was utilized as fast and as far 
as its sections were finished. On the 5th of July, 1846, I left 
Boulogne in a diligence for Paris. The railroad from the lat- 
ter city had been completed as far as Amiens about sixty miles. 
On reaching Amiens the diligence was driven under a crane 
with a chain sling attached, and after its body was loosened 
from the wheels it was swung round onto a platform car, to 
which it was securely attached, and the remainder of the jour- 
ney was travelled by rail. 

In 1843 ^ project was started to build a railroad from Boston 
to Plymouth, and on the i8th of March, 1844, the Old Colony 
railroad was incorporated. A committee appointed by those 
interested in the enterprise, consisting of Col. John Sever of 
Kingston, Hon. Isaac L. Hedge and Jacob H. Loud of Plym- 
outh, made a canvas of the towns on the route for the purpose 
of estimating the probable annual receipts of the road. In 
their report they stated that the Plymouth receipts, including 
both to and from Boston, would probably be eighteen thousand 
dollars for passengers, but no estimate was made of the prob- 
able freight receipts. They estimated the annual running ex- 
penses to be $46,250, and expressed the opinion that receipts 
of $100,000 would pay expenses, and a dividend of six per 
cent, on the cost of the road. Their estimate of the cost of 
the road was as follows : 

Gradients, masonry and bridges, $176,595 

Superstructure and turnouts, 290,650 

Stations, buildings, furniture, etc., 25,000 

Fences, 23,500 

Damages, 132,000 

Engines and cars, 65,000 

Contingent, 40,000 

Total for 37 miles, a little over $20,000 per mile, $752,745 

When completed, the cost was found to have been $700,000. 
The weight of the first locomotives used was fourteen and a 
half tons, and the weight of the rails fifty pounds per yard, 
while the weight of those now in use is sixty tons for locomo- 
tives and ninety pounds per yard for rails. On the Burlington 
route locomotives are now used weighing one hundred and 
eighty-seven tons, with tenders carrying twenty-six thousand 
pounds of coal, and six thousand gallons of water. The first 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 469 

hoard of Directors chosen at a meeting held at the Exchange 
Coffee House in Boston, June 25, 1844, consisted of John Sevor 
of Kingston, Addison Gilmore of Boston, Isaac L. Hedge of 
Plymouth, Nathan Carruth of Boston, Jacob H. Loud of Plym- 
outh, William Thomas of Boston, and Uriel Crocker of Boston. 
Mr. Sever was chosen president; Mr. Gilmore, treasurer; and 
Mr. Loud, clerk. In December, 1844, the same officers were 
chosen, and December 31, 1845, the same officers were re-elect- 
ed, except that Mr. Sever resigned as president, though re- 
maining on the board, Mr. Carruth succeeding him as presi- 
dent, and Josiah Quincy, Jr., succeeding Mr. Gilmore, who re- 
signed as director, but continued as treasurer. On the 8th of 
November, 1845, the road was opened and the Directors 
brought a party from Boston to dedicate it, among whom were 
Daniel Webster, John Quincy Adams, Judge John Davis. Josiah 
Quincy, Nathan Hale, E. Hasket Derby and P. P. F. Degrand. 
A collation had been prepared by the citizens in the lower Pil- 
grim Hall, at which Nathaniel Morton Davis presided, and 
speeches were made by the above gentlemen. The next day 
regular trains began to run twice a day at 7 a. m., and 3.30 p. 
m. from Plymouth, and 7.45 a. m. and 4.30 p. m. from Boston, 
with a running time of an hour and three quarters, while there 
are today eleven trains each way on week days, with various 
running times from 1.04 to 1.2 1, and five trains each way on 
Sundays. Until 1847 the road occupied the Boston and Wor- 
cester station in Lincoln street, and then removed to Kneeland 
street. The Directors believing that a hotel would be a profit- 
able feeder to the business of the road, built the Samoset, 
which was dedicated and opened March 4, 1846. Joseph Stet- 
son was employed to keep it, as the agent of the road, but in 
compliance with the recommendation of a committee chosen to 
investigate the affairs of the company, it was sold about 1850 
to an association, as has been stated in a former chapter. 

Some years after the incorporation of the Old Colony rail- 
road, a branch from South Braintree to Fall River was incor- 
porated as the Fall River railroad, which was consolidated with 
the Old Colony railroad, September 7, 1854, under the name of 
the Old Colony and Fall River railroad. After the extension 
of the road from Fall River to Newport, the name was changed 
to the Old Colony and Newport railroad. In 1872 the Cape 



470 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Cod railroad, extending from Middleboro to the Cape, was an- 
nexed, and the old name of Old Colony was resumed. The 
South Shore railroad from Braintree to Cohasset was added 
October i, 1876, the Duxbury and Cohasset from Cohasset to 
Kingston, October i, 1878, and the Fall River, Warren and 
Providence, December i, 1875. The Bridgewater Branch was 
built at an early period, and the Middleboro and Taunton 
Branch was opened in 1856, the branch by way of Easton to 
Fall River in 1871, and the Raynham and Taunton Branch in 
1882. As this sketch brings the Old Colony railroad down to 
the memory of the present generation, it is unnecessary tc pur- 
sue it further. 

For twenty years the Old Colony railroad, like all other rail- 
roads in New England, used wood as fuel in their locomotives, 
and the lot of land on which the brick block stands, extending 
to the shore was constantly filled with piles of wood, which 
were kept supplied by Geo. Adams of Kingston, the purchasing 
agent. The Providence road, more remote from wood lots, 
bought the standing wood on a large tract of land on the James 
River, and Franklin B. Cobb was sent one or more years to 
superintend its cutting and shipment. Had not coal soon tak- 
en the place of wood it is probable that by this time the forests 
of the country would have been exhausted. As it is, the 
enormous consumption of railroad ties presents a problem con- 
cerning a continual supply of these indispensable features of 
railroad construction which railroad men all over the country 
are beginning to seriously consider. There are two hundred 
thousand miles of railroads in the United States, which, with 
twenty-five hundred ties to the mile, require for their construc- 
tion 500,000,000 ties, or calling the life of a tie eight years, an 
annual supply of 62,000,000. Counting sixteen feet to a tie 
the annual repair of two hundred thousand miles of road will 
require annually a supply of 992 million square feet. With 
all the other uses to which lumber is put in houses, bridges, 
vessels, piling, box boards, barrels and wood pulp, to say noth- 
ing of the lumber destroyed by fires, it is easy to see that the 
end of our forests is not far ofif, unless some new material is 
discovered to meet the exigency. The Pennsylvania railroad 
is experimenting with steel ties, weighing thirteen to a ton, and 
costing $2 each, but their inflexibility seriously increases the 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 47I 

Avear and tear of rails and cars, and it is feared that the experi- 
ment will prove a failure. When the Boston and Lowell rail- 
road was built I feel quite sure that stone ties were used, and 
finally abandoned for the reason above sug-g-ested. Some rail- 
road managers in the southwest are trying catalpa wood, which 
if its texture shall be found satisfactory^ they think may be 
planted in large areas and furnish in twenty-five years a crop of 
trees, which set four feet apart will grow twenty-five hundred 
trees to the acre, or at the rate of two ties to a tree, five thous- 
and ties. At this rate twelve thousand acres would supply 
a sufficient number of ties for a single year. But what 
shall be done while these trees are growing, and still an- 
other year's product of twelve thousand acres will be required, 
and after that another and another. All the while the cost of 
lumber is increasing. Within seventy years black walnut, be- 
fore unknown as a furniture wood, has been so nearly exhaust- 
ed as to bring in the Boston market one hundred dollars a 
thousand. Our legislators in Washington in their fear of the 
lumber barons of Michigan and Maine, who have even sent 
their invading axes into the mountains of New Hampshire and 
the forests of the Adirondacks, refuse to bring about even the 
slight amelioration of present conditions, which by the aboli- 
tion of a duty on lumber, might be afforded by giving us access 
to the forests of the Dominion. Unlike France, where no 
man can cut down the forests on his own land without a gov- 
ernment permit, we of the present generation in the United 
States are absolutely skinning the earth, as if future genera- 
tions have no rights which we are bound to respect. If sev- 
enty years ago a law had been enacted requiring an acre of 
black walnut to be planted with so many trees to the acre, for 
every acre cut down, that wood would have continued in rea- 
sonably abundant supply. Unless some restraining laws be 
soon enacted to control the robbers of our forests, a lumber 
famine must sooner or later ensue. 

The only effectual remedy for the existing evil, vvhich I as 
a lavman can see, is the discovery of a material to be made 
from some plant, weed or shrub raised in annual crops. For 
want of a better name let us call the material paper. What 
the plant or shrub will be, no man as yet knows. It may be 
now in our fields and yards growing under our very eyes, and 



472 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

waiting to be called upon to do its share in the great work of 
civilization. It may be possible that with such an annual crop 
the farmers of New England will see their hillsides and valleys 
once more sources of wealth. It may be possible to mould the 
pulp made from this shrub into material of any form or shape 
from house lumber and box boards to brush woods, and from 
railroad ties to spools, as flexible as wood, as indistructible as 
stone, and as incombustible as iron. Fortune and fame await 
the discoverer of this material. Young man, look for it, and 
you will find it. Who knows that it may not be the daisy — 
not the common New England plant, but the daisy which has 
been produced by Luther Burbank of Santa Rosa, California, a 
combination of the New England, English and Japan daisies, 
with stalks two feet long, which would probably yield four tons 
to the acre. Such a crop raised annually without constant 
planting, and requiring little fertilization, would convert our 
hillsides and valleys into mines of wealth, and what is now a 
nuisance into an everlasting benefaction. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 473 



CHAPTER XXXXIV. 

A few words may be interesting concerning the management 
of fires in my youth. Either there were very few fires in 
Plymouth during the colonial and provincial periods, or the 
record of them is very incomplete. It is known that on the 
24th of January, 1620-21, the Common House or: Leyden 
street caught fire from the lodgment of a spark on its thatched 
roof, and was burned to the ground. At a town meeting held 
on the fifth of February, 1664-5, it was voted, "to see what 
may be collected for the relief of Francis Billington, he having 
lately suffered great loss by the burning of his house." The 
house known as the "Crow House" at Seaside, was probably 
built in 1665, on the site of the "Billington House." The only 
other fire, of which there is any record before the Revolution, is 
referred to in a vote of the town passed March 21, 1757, "that 
Thomas Norrington, in consideration of his loss by fire, be 
abated his Province, County and Town rates for the last year." 
As there is no record of any house owned by Mr. Norrington, 
it is probable that he was a tenant of some house or store, and 
suffered the loss of furniture or goods. In Boston, either 
more complete records were kept, or there were 
many more fires during the periods above mentioned. 
Tn 1654 occurred what was known as the great fire. 
In 1676 a fire at the North end consumed forty-five 
dwelling houses, the North Church and several ware- 
houses within a district enclosed by Richmond, Hanover and 
Clark streets. On the 8th of August, 1679, a fire occurred 
extending from what is now Blackstone street, westerly to Dock 
square, and southerly to the present Liberty square, which de- 
stroyed eighty dwelling houses, seventy warehouses, and many 
vessels with their cargoes, causing a loss of two hundred thous- 
and pounds. The main reliance in extinguishing fires at that 
time was upon long handled hooks, with which every house- 
holder was required to be provided, and upon large swabs at- 
tached to poles twelve feet long, with which water was splashed 
on the walls and roofs. A few pumps and the dock were the 
only sources of water supply. All buildings in Boston at that 



474 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

time were wooden, and at the next session of the General Court 
a law was passed providing that no dwelling houses should be 
erected in Boston except of stone or brick, and covered with 
slate or tile, unless by permission of the magistrates, commis- 
sioners and selectmen. October ist, 171 1, a fire beginning in 
Williams Court, burned nearly one hundred buildings, includ- 
ing the First Church. 

In 1778 a fire occurred at the South end, beginning at Beach 
street, and extending southerly on both sides of Washington 
street, as far as Common street, burning in its course the Hollis 
street church ; and in 1825 a fire in iCilby street destroyed fifty 
stores. The great fire in Boston, which burned from the even- 
ing of the 9th to the nth of November, 1872, covered about 
eighty acres, and extended from Bedford to State street, and 
with the exception of a few buildings, from Washington street 
to the harbor, causing a loss of about eighty millions of dollars. 
Taking into consideration only the fires in Boston before the 
Revolution, the number was entirely out of proportion to those 
in Plymouth during the same period. 

The first fire engine used in Boston with any eflfect, was 
made in 1765 by David Wheeler, a blacksmith, who had his 
house and shop on what is now Washington street, a little north 
of Bedford street, and between the latter street and what is 
now known as Avon place. From the first settlement of Bos- 
ton there was a pond belonging to the town abutting Wheeler's 
land, which had been always used as a town watering place, and 
which became a nuisance when dwellings were erected in its vi- 
cinity, and was finally sold to Mr. Wheeler in 1753. The first 
steam fire engine was introduced into Boston in 1854, and there 
are now between thirty and forty in the city. 

In 1792 the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society was or- 
ganized, and incorporated in 1794, to relieve sufferers by fire, 
and to invent means by which fires might be extinguished. For 
many years its anniversary was celebrated by an oration and an 
ode. Several of the odes were written by Robert Treat Paine, 
Jr., who changed his name from Thomas on account of his 
aversion to Thomas Paine, the author of the "Age of Reason." 
The celebrated song, "Adams and Liberty" was written by Mr. 
Paine to be sung at one of the celebrations of the Society to the 
tune, "To Anacreon in Heaven," which is now better known as 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



475 



the tune of the "Star Spangled Banner." As most of my read- 
ers are probably unfamiliar with this song, I give below one of 
its stanzas : 

"Ye sons of Columbia who bravely have fought, 

For those rights which unstained from your sires had descended, 
May you long taste the blessings your valor has bought. 
And your sons reap the soil which their fathers defended; 
Mid the reign of mild peace. 
May your nation increase. 

With the glory of Rome and the wisdom of Greece, 
And no son of Columbia shall e'er be a slave. 
While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls a wave." 
As far as I can learn there was no fire insurance on any 
building in Massachusetts until the very last years of the i8th 
century. There were no insurance companies in the state until 
then, but it is possible that there may have been individuals who 
took fire risks as Barnabas Hedge did at a later period in Plym- 
outh. Until about 1798 or 1799, marine insurance was done 
entirely by underwriters, as they were called. A ship owner, 
for instance, about to send his vessel to sea, who wished insur- 
ance, would ask a few men of means how large risks each 
would take, and they would under write their names on printed 
blanks, stating the amounts they would insure. Of course the 
establishment of insurance companies put an end to this meth- 
od of insurance except in outports like Plymouth, and the name 
underwriter was transferred to the companies. My great uncle 
Thomas Davis, was the first president of the first marine insur- 
ance company in Boston, from 1798 until his death in 1805, and 
I have hanging on the wall in my library, the barometer which 
hung in his office. 

I have spoken of three fires which occurred in Plymouth dur- 
ing the colonial period. I am inclined to think that not more 
than forty fires have occurred since 1620, causing losses exceed- 
ing fire hundred dollars, and that the total loss by fire, exclu- 
sive of fires in the woods, has not exceeded three hundred 
thousand dollars. Of all the fires, which have occurred within 
my memory I can recall only one in which adjoining buildings 
were seriously damaged. While this bears testimony to the 
efficiency of the Plymouth fire department, I think that special 
mention should be made of the Unitarian Church fire, when 
only great skill and persistent effort saved the Bradford house, 
the Town house, and the Orthodox church. 



4/6 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

For more than a hundred years Plymouth possessed no spec- 
ial means of extinguishing fires. On the 27th of January, 
1728, it was voted m town meeting- "that every householder 
shall from time to time be provided with a sufficient ladder or 
ladders to reach from the ground to the ridge of such house at 
the charge of the owner therof ; and in case the owner or own- 
ers of such house or houses be not an inhabitant of the town, 
then the occupiers thereof to provide the same and deduct the 
charge thereof out of his or their rent, on pain of the forfeiture 
of five shillings per month for every month's neglect after the 
tenth day of January next." It was also voted that between 
the first day of March and the first of December every house- 
holder between Wood's Lane, now Samoset street, and Jabez 
Corner, should keep on his premises a hogshead or two barrels 
of water, or a cistern to the value of two hogsheads, exempting, 
however, any house standing twenty rods from the highway. 
So things went on with only the efi^orts of citizens to rely on, 
and the utmost care in the management of domestic fires, until 
the i6th of March, 1752, when it was voted to choose thereafter 
annually a board of five firewards ; and on the 21st of March, 
1757? ^t was voted to purchase what was called a 'garden en- 
gine' that would throw about fifty gallons of water a minute. 
On the i8th of February, 1765, it was voted that Gideon White, 
Wm. Rider, Samuel Cole, Wm. Rickard, Abiel Shurtleflf, Zach- 
eus Curtis, Lewis Bartlett, John May and Wm. Crombie, the 
managers of the engine, be exempted from the performance of 
all other town duties. In 1770 two engines are referred to in 
the records, though there is no mention of the purchase of the 
second one, and both were kept in an addition at the easterly 
end of the present town house. On the 2d of May, 1798, the 
town voted to buy a new engine, and on the 6th of April, 1801, 
another, these two taking the places of the two old ones. These 
two new engines called respectively Niagara No. i and Foun- 
tain No. 2, were bucket engines, and were kept under the Uni- 
tarian Meeting House until it was taken down in 183 1, when 
the Fountain was removed to a house built on the southwest 
corner of Training Green, and the Niagara was removed to a 
house near the jail, and later to a house on Russell street. An 
engine which was called No. 3, was presented to the town by 
Nathaniel Russell, William Davis and Barnabas Hedge, May 5, 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 477 

1823, but was disposed of in 1836, when the Rapid was bou,G:ht, 
and took its number. In 1829 the reservoirs in Town and 
Shirley squares were built, and in that year Torrent No. 4, a 
suction engine, was bought, and in the same year the Niagara 
was changed to a suction engine. In 1834 and later, reser- 
voirs were built at Training Green, in High street and 
in Court street at the foot of Russell street and 
opposite Pilgrim Hall. The Torrent No. 4 was kept 
some years in the Northwesterly end of the Town House, 
and afterwards in Franklin street, while the Rapid was remov- 
ed to Summer street. At the present time the Niagara built 
in 1798, the Fountain built in 1801, the Torrent built in 1828, 
and the Rapid built in 1836, are stored in the hospital of the 
Fire Department on Spring street, where I hope they will be 
permitted to long remain as veterans in the service, and relics 
of the past. 

The earliest fire of which I have any recollection, was in 
1828, when the anchor works, standing where the Plymouth 
Mills are now located, were burned. I was then attending 
JVIrs. Maynard's school on the comer of Main street and Town 
Square, and saw one of the engines go round the corner. In 
the same year or the next, before the reservoirs were built, and 
before the first suction engine was bought, I remember seeing 
two lines of men and women carrying up one line buckets of 
water from the dock to a bucket engine at the head of North 
street, and carrying empty buckets down the other line back 
to the dock. In every house two leather fire buckets hand- 
somely painted, and bearing the owner's name, hung in the 
front entry, and when the fire bells rang tliere was a general 
panic, and men half dressed and women bareheaded, and with 
disordered hair, seized their buckets and ran to the scene of the 
fire. In my boyhood the active men at fires were, Joseph 
Bradford, Samuel Doten, and Daniel and Isaac C. Jackson, each 
with his fire trumpet, calling as the occasion required, "Play 
away, No. 4," or "Play away, No. i." 

In 1835 ^" ^ct was passed by the General Court, establishing 
the Plvmouth Fire Department, under which the selectmen ap- 
point annually a board of engineers, who now have full charge 
of the organization of the department and the management of 
fires. In Mav, 1870, in accordance with a vote of the town, 



478 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Steam fire engine No. i was bought, and in June, 1874, No. 2 
was bought and named Jeremiah Farris. In 1893 No. 3 was 
bought, and named H. P. Bailey. The question may well 
be asked why suction engines were not earlier invented. For 
centuries water pumps were used, and the engine only needed 
an application of their well known principles to make them 
complete. The saying that necessity is the mother of inven- 
tion, is only another version of the statement that providence 
supplies what the actual wants of the people demand. The 
carelessness of men, the cheap methods of building, and the in- 
troduction of new devices for heating houses, have alarmingly 
increased the liabilities to tires, and have led to a demand for 
better methods of extinguishing them, and lo, the engine ap- 
peared at call. Nor does the steam fire engine mark more 
than another step towards more elTective machines. The time 
is undoubtedly near at hand when the auto engine will take 
the place of that drawn by horse power, and sooner or later 
will itself give way to some fire extinguisher, the nature of 
which time will disclose. 

The Plymouth Fire Department, as now organized, is ex- 
ceedingly creditable to the town. It consists of a board of 
five engineers and 130 men, with the following apparatus and 
equipment : 

In the two story brick central station in Main street, Steamer 
H. P. Bailey No. 3, hose wagon, ladder truck, chemical 
engine, hose reel, seven horses. 

In the two story brick station on South street, Steamer No. 2, 
the Jeremiah Farris, hose wagon, ladder truck, and five horses. 

At the Seaside station. Steamer No. i, reel and hose. 

At Hall Town, reel and hose. 

At Whiting street, reel and hose. 

At Baptist street, reel and hose. 

At the Langford house, Chiltonville reel and hose. 

Two hundred and twenty-eight hydrants : four hand engines, 
laid up ; nine thousand feet of hose ; tv/enty-five fire alarm sig- 
nal boxes, and a battery room in the Central station. 

It is only necessary to add that the appropriation for the 
maintenance of the department for the present year is eleven 
thousand dollars. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



CHAPTER XXXXV. 



479 



Of funerals and their management, in early times, I have not 
much to say. Most of the funeral customs of ancient days 
had passed away before I was born. Funeral feasts and the 
gifts of gloves and scarfs and rings, a serious tax on the 
mourners, and a substantial profit to the officiating clergymen 
and pall bearers, who received them, were no longer in vogue. 
Until about the middle of the eighteenth century, prayers form- 
e<l no part of a funeral ceremony, and it is said that the first 
prayer at a funeral in Boston was offered by Rev. Dr. Charles 
Chauncey at the interment of Rev. Dr. Jonathan Mayhew, pas- 
tor of the First Church, July 9, 1766. The sermon, which intro- 
duced the custom, which prevailed later of preaching funeral 
sermons, was preached by Dr. John Clarke in the Brattle street 
meeting house at the interment of Rev. Dr. Samuel Cooper, 
who died September 29, 1783. The rings given at funerals 
were of black enamel, edged with gold, inscribed with the name, 
age and date of the death of the deceased. The only one I 
ever saw was found a few years ago in the garden of the 
house which stood on the site of the Plymouth Savings Bank, 
and given to me. Recognizing the initials on the ring, and the 
date of death as those of one whose descendant at one time lived 
in the house referred to, I gave it to one of the family. It is 
said that Rev. Andrew Eliot, pastor of what was called the new 
North Church in Boston, received twenty-nine hundred and 
forty gloves at funerals, weddings and baptisms, a large num- 
ber of which he sold, receiving therefor a very considerable 
addition to his salary. It was a custom which has not been 
abolished many years, on the Sunday after the death of a rela- 
tive, to have a note read to the congregation asking prayers for 
the loss of a parent or wife or husband or friend. I have heard 
on some occasions as many as a dozen of these notes read be- 
fore the announcement of the text of the sermon. An amus- 
ing story is told of a note, asking prayers for an inconsolable 
husband for the loss of a beloved wife, being found in a pul- 
pit bible by a clergyman supplying the pulpit for the day only, 
who supposing it a new one, read it to the congregation, who 



^SO PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

bad listened to it a year before, much to tbe consternation of 
the inconsolable husband, who was present in the church with a 
new bride. Though the custom of a funeral dinner, at which 
the pall bearers were guests, which has been discribed as 

"Containing lots of fun, 

Like mourning coaches, when the funeral's done," 

had disappeared, I remember when it was the invariable custom 
for the pall bearers to return with the mourners to the house 
of the deceased and indulge in such wine or liquor as best 
suited their tastes. This custom continued until the temper- 
ance agitation about 1833, and has never been resumed. Fu- 
neral customs were different in different places, some inherited 
from the Dutch, and some from the English. In New York 
there were as in Massachusetts before the introduction of the 
hearse, six bearers who relieved each other in carrying the cof- 
fin on a bier to the grave, and six others who walked beside the 
bier, each holding a tassel of the pall or funeral cloth. At 
Mrs. Catalina de Peyster's funeral, six young ladies attended 
as pall bearers dressed in white sarcinet jackets and petticoats 
with their heads uncovered, and their hair powdered and done 
up with white ribbon. The first hearse was used in Boston in 
1796, and the first in Plymouth was used at the funeral of 
Thomas Pope, the father of the late Capt. Richard Pope, who 
died July 6, 1820. The first funeral which I remember, was 
that of Henry Warren, which I saw forming in front of his 
late residence on the corner of North street, but the first one I 
attended, was that of my great uncle, Samuel Davis, at Mrs. 
Nicolson's boarding house on Court Square, where he died July 
10, 1829. I can point out the very spot where, holding my 
mother's hand, I listened to the passing bell, and waited im- 
patiently for the procession to start. I thought then that the 
passing bell merely announced the march of the procession, and 
did not realize that it was really the celebration of the passage 
of a human soul through the gates of heaven. 

The funeral hearse has a varied history, and in its present use 
has been diverted from its original design and purpose. At 
various early times the hearse and the catafalque were the same, 
and neither was ever used as a vehicle. It was a temporary 
structure set up in a chapel or house or place of burial, some- 
times constructed at great cost, where the body lay for a time 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 481 

in State. In Strype's Memorials the funeral ceremonies of the 
bishop of Winchester are described, after which, as he says, the 
body "was put into a wagon with four horses all covered with 
black." Strype also describes the funeral of Henry the Eighth 
at which "in the chapel was ordained a goodly formal hearse 
with four score square tapers ; every light containing two foot 
in length poising in the whole eighteen hundred weight of wax 
garnished about with pensils and escutcheons banners and ban- 
nerols of descents, and at the four corners four banners of 
saints beaten in fine gold upon damask." He further says, that 
"on the 14th of February the chariot was brought to the Court 
hall door and the corpse with great reverence brought from the 
hearse to the same." These extracts show conclusively that 
the hearse was a temporary structure erected in a chapel, or 
elsewhere, and that since the abandonment of its use, its name 
has been transferred to the vehicle carrying the body to the 
grave. 

In early chapters I have alluded to various habits and cus- 
toms prevailing during my boyhood, but have left untouched 
many associated with every day life. A reference to these, 
like charity, must begin at home, and as I recall my boyhood 
days and everything associated with them, I realize, 
"How cruelly sweet are the echoes that start, 
When memory plays an old tune on the heart." 

How well I remember the room, in which the family spent 
their evenings around the square centre table, lighted perhaps 
by two brass lamps, or by what was called an astral lamp, 
which was the first step in that series of illuminating 
contrivances, which included afterwards first the solar 
and then the carcel lamp, finally culminating in gas, which 
was introduced into Plymouth in 1855. For special occasions 
spermaceti candles were added, which were made at home in 
candle moulds with spermaceti bought at the Plymouth oil fac- 
tory. Tallow candles and bayberry candles were used by 
many less well to do people, and to them kerosene oil, which 
came into use about the time of the introduction of gas at a 
price lower than whale oil, was a welcome boon. In the ma- 
terial world I know no greater civilizer than this oil has been 
among our people. The houses of those in the smaller towns, 
and in the suburbs of our own town, in which the sputtering 



482 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

oil lamp was extinguished at what was called early candle light, 
sending the occupants to bed, now display a cheerful sitting 
room, in which a centre table with books and magazines, and a 
parlor organ, or perhaps a piano, afford means of education and 
amusement, and promote a higher and a longer life. Some 
years ago statistics showed that insanity was especially preva- 
lent among farmers with their days of constant and anxious 
work, unrelieved by seasons of amusement and good cheer. 
But kerosene oil has changed all this, and has lifted the cur- 
tain which once shut out the light of a cheerful life, and has im- 
measurably broadened the horizon within which farmers live. 

What evenings those were at our home, the mother with her 
children, unattracted by clubs and societies away from the 
grand functions of a mother's life ; the children, out of the 
street, supplementing the instruction of school with that which 
only a parent could furnish. I know no p-reater change with- 
in my lifetime than that exhibited by the lessening influence 
of home. It has been brought about, partly by the disintegrat- 
ing effect of civilized life, which with new means of heating 
and lighting, has scattered the members of a family, leaving no 
fireside to gather around, and has drawn them for intellectual 
and moral instructions beyond the limits of home ; and partly, I 
am sorry to say, by the inculcation in some quarters of the idea 
that the management of a family and home is a drudgery, which 
should be avoided in the search for what is called a higher life. 
It seems useless to ask why the management of an institution 
incorporated by the acts of God, than which nothing can be 
nobler, is any more drudgery than the management of a rail- 
road or steamboat or factory, incorporated by the legislature of 
the state. I halt, however, on the threshold of a subject too 
broad for discussion here, and only alluded to because I believe 
it to be one touching the best and truest life of society. 

Until about 1832 no attempt was made to heat our houses 
with any other fuel than wood. In nearly every room there 
was a fireplace, that in the living room in some houses supple- 
mented by a Franklin or Pierpont stove, which stood on the 
outer verge of the hearth, and with flaring sides, threw all the 
heat into the room without the loss of any by escape into the 
chimney. When coal was introduced, perhaps a grate was 
set in the living room, and into some of the chambers a spitfire 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 483 

Stove, and finally as the last step in methods of heating, came 
the furnace. Fires in chambers were in my day far from be- 
ing universal. I do not think that at home I ever slept in a 
heated chamber, except when sick, until I was sixteen years of 
age. How well I remember lying in bed looking at the pea- 
cocks and other figures on the chintz curtain of my four post 
bedstead, dreading to get up and wash my face and hands with 
water frozen in the pitcher. Warming pans, now obsolete, 
were invaluable in those days. In making fires in the different 
fireplaces, instead of using shavings or newspapers and match- 
es, a fire pan, a very important article in every house, was used 
to carry a brand, or a parcel of coals from the kitchen fire, 
which placed under the wood, with the aid of a bellows soon 
kindled into a cheerful blaze. The fire pan made of iron, had a 
wooden handle, a cover punched with holes, and its under side 
sloped up in front. The kitchen fire, like the chanukkah light of 
the Jews, which was intended to be perpetual, was supposed to 
never go out, and being covered up at night, was rekindled in 
the morning. If a neighbor lost his fire he would come to our 
house with a fire pan and borrow a brand. In connection with 
fires the foot stove must be mentioned, an article indispensable 
in those times when houses were insufficiently heated. It was 
also an indispensable article in the meeting house, where the 
heat from a box stove, with a long funnel running overhead the 
full length of the house, was supplemented by the foot stoves 
in the pews to a degree, which alone made the atmosphere tol- 
erable. I recall the relief from the Sabbath imprisonment at 
home in those days, when it seemed to me, 

"That congregations ne'er break up. 

And Sabbaths never end." 
when I was permitted to go to the meeting house with the foot 
stove and place it in the pew. The use of the foot stove in 
church was almost as ancient as the New England meeting 
house itself. On the fourth of March, 1744, it was voted by 
the town "that each person leaving his or her stove in any of 
the meeting houses in said town, after the people are all gone 
out (but the sexton) shall forfeit and pay the sum of five shil- 
lings to be improved as the law directs ; and tlie stove so left 
to be forfeited to the sexton finding the same, and the sexton 
of each meeting house in the town is required carefully to in- 



484 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

spect the pews and seats in each meeting house he or they have 
the care of, and to take into his possession all such stoves as 
may be so left in either or any of said meeting houses, and them 
keep in his possession until the owners thereof pay him the 
value of said stove or stoves so taken ; and also each sexton is 
required and impowered to prosecute each person leaving his 
or her stove as aforesaid, and to recover the penalty set on such 
offender by this act." 

The kitchen in our house was almost a baronial hall, nearly 
thirty feet long, with an open fireplace wide enough to take a 
four foot stick for a forestick, and deep enough to take an iron 
back log six inches square, bearing up a back stick with sticks 
between making a roaring fire capable of performing the multi- 
plicity of duties assigned to it. On the left side was a fire 
hole by which a wash boiler set in brick in the sink room was 
heated. Over the fire was a long iron crane with its pot hooks 
and tramells from which a teakettle always hung, never permit- 
ting any usurpation of its place by pots and kettles of less royal 
station. By its side hung the boiling kettle from whose recess- 
es came at times those wonders of culinery art, the hard boiled 
puddings tied in a bag, of which the present generation knows 
nothing, and with which nothing has ever been seen since to 
furnish any comparison. They were the hard boiled rice, plum 
rice, apple, Indian, Indian suet, batter, bread and huckleberry, 
sure proofs to all who remember them that the world has retro- 
graded. The hasty pudding was exempted from confinement 
in a bag, a pudding older than New England, and a favorite 
food of the Indians. Joel Barlow described its preparation in 
the following lines : 

"She learnt with stones to crack the well dried maize. 

Thro' the rough sieve to shake the golden shower, 

In boiling water stir the yellow flour ; 

The yellow flour bestrewed and stirred with haste, 

Swells in the flood, and thickens to a paste, 

Then pufi^s and wallops, rises to the brim, 

Drinks the dry knobs that on the surface swim ; 

The knobs at last the busy ladle breaks. 

And the whole mass its true consistence takes." 

On the right hand side of the fireplace was a brick oven with 
an opening into the ash pit in front of the door to receive the 
coals and ashes when the oven was sufficiently heated. This 
kind of oven is often called the "Dutch Oven," but it lacks that 



OF AN OCTOGEXARIAN. 485 

distinctive feature of the Dutch oven, a door on the outside of 
the house opening into a small lean-to under which the baking 
was done. In front of the fireplace was the tin kitchen, in 
which all the roasting was done, having a long spit running 
through it to hold the meat or turkey, the basting being done 
through a door on its back. The baking of bread, if not done 
in the oven when it happened to be heated, was done either in 
a creeper or in a tin Yankee baker before the fire. Inside the 
jams hung the indispensable bellows, and the waffle irons, 
which were often called into use. I supposed as others did, 
that when waffle irons were first used they were a new discov- 
ery in the culinary art. But bless you, my young admirers of 
waffles, they were older than the country, and were brought 
from Holland by the Dutch. The irons were called by the 
Dutch "Izers." In New York the waffles were called "Izer 
cookies," in New Jersey "split cakes," and in Philadelphia 
"squeeze cakes," and finally became known as waffles, a name 
which seems to have been an abbreviation of "wafers." As 
some of my readers may never have seen these irons, I will 
describe them as two iron handles, joined and worked like a 
pair of scissors, each having at its end a square or round plate 
five or six inches in diameter, fitting into each other and hold- 
ing the dough, which is pressed, receiving the design cast in 
the inside of the plates. There is an old song remembered 
by Dutch descendants partly Dutch and partly English, which 
in its allusion to waffles shows the intiquity of the cakes, and 
which I submit to our high school scholars for translation : 

"Ter roorches, ter roorches, 

She mameche buclcche. borche 

Ter roorches, ter roorches, 

As mc mither le waffles she boxes, 

De butter la door de groches, 

Ter roorches, ter rooches 

She mameche backle che boo." 
There are other articles of food which have come from the 
Dutch. The cooky from the Dutch word kockje, the cruller 
from the Dutch kruUer, and noodles for soup from the Dutch 
noodlegees are well known. Our doughnut called in England 
in old times donnuts, are the same as the old Dutch oly-coecks, 
which originally had a raisin embedded in their centre. 

In describing the old kitchen, I must not forget the coffee 



486 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

grinder, which hung on the wall, in which our grandmothers 
knew enough not to grind more than sufificient for a day's use. 
Coffee was coffee in those days, and not the mixture of chicory 
and pease now imposed on those who buy what is called ground 
coffee. I say to my readers, pay no attention to the advertis- 
ers of postum and other substitutes for coffee, who mag- 
nify the ill effects of the genuine article. Always buy your 
coffee in the bean, roast and grind it yourself, and preserve 
its full flavor in an air tight box until used. I know that in 
Paris sixty years ago, coffee roasters were to be seen every 
morning along the sidewalks or in the court yards of the hous- 
es, showing the general importance attached to the morning 
beverage, and that everywhere in hotel and restaurant delicious 
coffee was always served. In 1895 no such scenes on the side- 
walks came under my observation, and poor coffee had become 
the rule. No doubt the change is due to the use of ground 
coffee, which has either lost its flavour, or is an adulterated 
article. 

In the autumn in my youth there was a solicitude concern- 
ing the articles to be laid in for the winter. First good po- 
tatoes must be found, twenty bushels of which with a barrel 
of sweet German turnips, and a bushel of carrots and onions 
must be put in brick bins in the cellar, where exposed to as 
little light as possible, they would in the days before furnaces 
keep well till spring. Then in a cool part of the cellar, places 
must be found for five barrels of apples, one each of Rhode 
Island Greenings, Baldwins, Russets, Holmes apples and sweet 
apples. Of course a firkin of good butter must be laid in, a 
jar of tamarinds, a jar of malaga grapes, and fifty pounds of 
well selected codfish, the last to be broad and thick, and not 
more than eighteen inches long including the tail. The fish 
must be kept in a close box, and placed in the garret. Never 
buy stripped codfish, for if you do you will probablv get hake, 
polluck, skate and catfish, and other cheap denisons of the 
sea. In speaking of articles of food, in which 
there have been changes, there are other articles besides coffee 
and codfish not altogether creditable to those who provide them 
for public use. The sweet oil that you buy may be lard or cot- 
ton seed, the horseradish, which you wish for your veal in the 
spring, is largely flat turnip ; some of the canned tom.atoes are 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 48/ 

green and colored red, and much of your vinegar and whiskey 
is manufactured. The Philadelphia capons, Rhode Island 
turkeys and Vermont geese displayed on your hotel menus 
were raised in Plympton, Carver and Halifax. Our traders are 
honest, but they sell what they buy without analysis, leaving 
their protection to the law. Many of these misrepresentations 
are innocent enough, and cannot be classed with that which 
daily stares us in the face on the first page of a newspaper 
which is delivered at the hotels and newstands at half past 
twelve and dated 405. The worst feature of such misrepre- 
sentations as this is that it teaches the newsboys to make the 
false claim after 4.05, that the paper so dated is the last edition. 
One of the occasional domestic functions of our home was a 
quilting bee, in which friends and neighbors joined for the 
purpose of quilting a counterpane or bed quilt, made of patch- 
w-ork. We had a set of quilting bars, four strips of wood 
about eight feet long, with holes a few inches apart, which 
when resting on the tops of chairs, could be put together by 
means of pegs at the corners, and enlarged as the quilt re- 
quired more space between the side bars. As there were not 
many of these bars in town ours were constantly in demand, and 
loaned from one to another. I suppose these patchwork cjuilts 
are still in use, but the last one I ever saw was given to me bv 
Mrs. Taylor, a daughter of Uncle Branch Fierce, in acknow- 
ledgment of service rendered her in securing the return of the 
body of her son, David A. Taylor, who was killed during the 
civil war. A part of my occupation at school in early boy- 
hood was sew'ing patchwork squares together, to be used in 
quilts when needed. 

Invariably on Saturday night my brother and I were given 
the weekly bath, which was not especially welcome in winter, 
but as cleanliness was next to Godliness, it was esteemed a 
proper preparation for Sunday. A countryman visiting New 
York for the first time must have been accustomed to the same 
habit, for he wrote home to his wife that "adn my room in the 
hotel is another room, with a bath tub and hot and cold water, 
and a lot of towels, and when I see them things I almost 
wished, begosh, that it was Saturday night." Notwithstand- 
ing the bath tub preparation for the Sabbath, I am sorry to say 
that the hours of that day were those of my youth which I re- 



488 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

call with the least pleasure. A strict observance of the Sab- 
bath was the custom of the time, and the day was devoted until 
late in the afternoon to Scripture reading and Sunday-school 
lessons in the morning, and attendance twice at church, with 
Sunday-school at noon. Parents in those days did not permit 
their children to loiter at home and on the street until the morn- 
ing service was finished, and then send them to Sunday-school, 
for they believed that the religious and moral instruction re- 
ceived from the pulpit was as important as that received 
through catechisms from teachers in the pew. 

After the second service my brother and I were sometimes 
permitted to take hold of hands and make a call at the house of 
my uncle Mr. Nathaniel Morton Davis, or at the house of my 
great aunt, Hannah White, then ninety years of age, a descend- 
ant of Peregrine White, who had talked with those who well 
knew the first born son of New England. Occasionally, also, 
T went with my mother to visit Miss Molly Jackson, an aunt 
of my grandmother Davis, who at the age of nearly one hun- 
dred occupied a second story room in the southwest 
corner of the house in Hobbs Hole, next south of that of Thos. 
E. Cornish. My visits to her connected me with an earlier 
date than any other incidents in my life, giving me an oppor- 
tunity to see and talk with a person born one hundred and 
seventy-six years ago, or only twenty-five years after the death 
of Peregrine White. The lax observance of the Sabbath now 
prevailing in marked contrast with its observance in earlier 
times, believing as I do in the beneficent and conservative in- 
fluence of stated days of rest for man and beast, aside from 
all religious considerations, should be considerately and wisely 
reformed. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 489 



CHAPTER XXXXVI. 

Besides the quilting bee which has been mentioned, there 
were formerly many other kinds of bees, some within my own 
time, and others that I have heard about from my elders. There 
were the chopping and stone bees, by which a new comer in a 
settlement was assisted by all his neighbors in clearing the 
land for his house and farm ; the apple gathering bee and the 
woodpile bee, in which under the full moon the fiddle and the 
dance played an important part. There was also the raising 
bee, when a house completely framed was ready to be set up, 
in which all the carpenters joined and found under the stimu- 
lating influence of Medford rum that in lifting plates and studs 
and rafters their yoke was easy, and their burden light. In 
raising the house on the upper westerly corner of High and 
Spring streets in 1799, the frame fell, precipitating from thirty 
to forty carpenters to the ground, twenty-one of whom were 
seriously, though none fatally injured. In that case the rum 
proved to be a little above proof, and the treenail fastenings a 
little below. The last house in Plymouth raised with the Med- 
ford accompaniment, was that now standing on the southerly 
corner of Howland street, built in 1834. The great bee, which 
was celebrated all over the corn growing parts of our country 
in olden times, was the husking bee, not the sham frolic of 
present days when, like the fox bought in a bag by Newport 
hunters, a load of corn on the stalk is bought for the occasion 
and piled on a floor glistening under electric lights, but the 
genuine husking frolic in a barn of ample proportions, where 
piles of pumpkins furnished the decorations, and cornstalk 
fiddles enlivened the scene. There the lads and lassies sat 
around the diminishing heap, and all knew the dangers and 
delights which attended the finding of a red or a .=mutty ear 
of corn. 

"In the bam the youths and maidens 
Strip the corn of husk and tassel. 
Warm the duHness of October 
With the life of spring and May; 
While through every chink the lanterns 
And sonorous gusts of laughter 



490 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Make assault on night and silence 
With the counterfeit of day." 

The literature of the husking bee is extensive, and there 
are mysterious legends of ancient date about the red ear of 
corn. As early as the year 1700, in the ceremony of marriage 
among the Caughnawaga Indians, the husband gave the wife 
a deer's leg, and the wife gave the husband a red ear, and in 
Hiawatha, Longfellow speaks of the husking as if it were a 
usage among the Indians. 

"When'er some lucky maiden 
Found a red ear in the husking, 
Found a red ear, red as blood is, 
Mushka; cried they altogether, 
Mushka; you shall have a sweetheart, 
You shall have a handsome husband." 

John Barlow in his hasty pudding poem written in 1792 
said: 

"The laws of husking every wight can tell — 

And sure no laws he ever keeps so well ; 

For each red ear a general kiss he gains. 

With each smut ear he smuts the luckless swains ; 

But when to some sweet maid a prize is cast, 

Red as her lips, and taper as her waist. 

She walks the round, and culls one favored beau. 

Who leaps the luscious tribute to bestow." 

In "traits of American humor" a writer said, "there was a 
corn husking, and I went along with Sol. Stebbins. There 
was all the gals and boys setting around and I got sot down 
so near Sal Babit that I'll be darned if I didn't kiss her before 
I knowed what I was about." In the South the corn husk 
was called a shuck, and President Lincoln showed his familiar- 
ity with southern terms, when, after his conference at Fortress 
Monroe with Alexander H. Stephens, the vice president of the 
Confederacy, who was a very small man, weighing not more 
than ninety or a hundred pounds, and on that occasion wore 
an immense borrowed overcoat, which came down to his heels, 
he described Mr. Stevens as the smallest ear in the largest 
shuck he had ever seen. 

Husking time among the negroes of North Carolina was 
always a season of relaxation and frolic. The following now 
no longer heard was among the husking songs they sang. 

"Oh boys ! Come along and shuck the corn ; 

Oh boys ! Come along to the rattle of the horn ! 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



491 



We '11 shuck and sing to the coming of the moon, 
And den we'll ford the river. 
Oh Bob Ridley, O! O! O! 
How could you fool the possum so!" 

There can be little doubt that at one time the harvest husk- 
ing festival degenerated into noisy scenes, which called for 
earnest condemnation and earnest appeals for reform. Cotton 
Mather wrote in 1713 that '"the riots that have too often accus- 
tomed our huskings, have carried in them fearful ingratitude 
and provocation unto the glorious God." But all through my 
boyhood pumpkin pie and sweet cider alone remained as relics 
of the ancient feast. 

Christmas during my day came and went without observ- 
ance or notice. It was not a holiday, presents were not ex- 
changed, schools were kept, and the wish for a "Merry Christ- 
mas" was never heard. Puritan soil was not a favorable one 
for its observance. In 1659 any observance of Christmas 
"either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way" 
was forbidden under a penalty of five shillings for each offence. 
Though this law was repealed in 1681 the leaders of the Massa- 
chusetts Colony, including Judge Samuel Sewall, still looked 
on Christmas revels as offensive to the Holy Son of God. Dur- 
ing my boyhood the St. Andrews church in Scituate, which 
was later removed to Hanover, where it is now a flourishing 
church, was the only Episcopal church in Plymouth county. 
It is singular that in its early years it derived its membership 
and support from the Winslows and the Whites, descendants 
of Mayflower Pilgrims. As far as I can learn nearly all bear- 
ing those names in Marshfield and Scituate, among whom I 
include my own kinsmen, were Episcopalians, and some of 
those residing in Plymouth, were members of St. Andrew's 
church. The records of the Plymouth First Church contain 
a petition of my great aunt, Joanna Winslow, and her daugh- 
ter, Mrs. Henry Warren, to be admitted to the Plymouth fold, 
on account of the distance of St. Andrew's from their homes 
in Plymouth. It is an anomaly difficult to understand that so 
many of Pilgrim blood should have returned to the faith from 
which their ancestors were glad to separate. With regard to 
Christmas I am inclined to think that its observance has found 
its way through its appeal to the aesthetic rather than the 
religious sense of the people. 



492 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Of the many cults and isms and doctrines, which have ap- 
peared within my recollection, I do not propose to speak. In 
the Bibliographia Antiquariana may be found, I think, nearly 
a hundred of their names terminating in "mancy," which at 
various times have found lodgment in the minds of men. Some 
of these still have their followers, and I am willing to accord 
to them as sound reasons for their faith as I claim for my own. 
The only limit to my tolerance is that set by the followers them- 
selves in the contradictory acts of their every day life. Not 
long ago in a casual conversation with a devotee of an ism, 
the name of which I do not know, I incidentally said, "it is 
a stormy day, Madam," to which she answered, "It seems so, 
but it isn't." To my inquiry, "Why, then, do you carry an um- 
brella," she made no reply, and I bade her good morning. 

In my early boyhood the primitive methods of kindling a 
fire were only a little in advance of the method of rubbing 
two sticks together, practised by the Indians. Until 1829, so 
far as my own observation went, the tinder box, with the flint 
and steel, was in use. Some used what was called the chem- 
ical match, a stick dipped first in sulphur, and then into a com- 
position of chlorate of potash, and other ingredients, which 
dipped in a vial of sulphuric acid produced fire as the result of 
chemical action between the acid and potash. In 1829 it was 
found that sticks coated with chlorate of potash and phos- 
phorus could be instantly ignited by rubbing them on sand- 
paper. This was the first step leading to the manufacture 
of the lucifer match, now in almost universal use. The luci- 
fer match was at first called locofoco, a name derived from the 
Latin "loco foci," meaning "In the place of fire." The name 
loco foco applied to the democratic party had its origin in 1835 
in the incident of relighting by means of matches the burners 
in a hall in New York, where a democratic meeting was held, 
and the light had been extinguished by party opponents. In 
recent years safety matches have been extensively used, the 
best of which are made in Sweden, which can be ignited only 
on the boxes in which they are sold. With the frequency of 
fires occasioned by the lucifer match, it is a wonder to me 
that either by law or by rules of insurance companies, some 
restriction is not put on its use. It is estimated that more 
than six million gross of lucifer matches, with 14,400 to a 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



493 



gross, are annually consumed in the United States. A story 
was told me by the late Rev. Dr. George E. Ellis, about John 
Quincy Adams who died in 1848. nineteen years after the luci- 
fer match came into use. Dr. Ellis attended with Mr. Adams 
about 1840 an historical meeting- in New York, and occupied 
with him a double bedded room at the Astor House. In 
those days only a few rooms in hotels were ever heated, and 
those by means of a coal grate, which was kept full of kindlings 
and coal ready to be lighted by matches, of which there was 
always a supply on the mantel. When Mr. Adams got into 
bed, though the fire had not been lighted, he opened a window 
much to the discomfort of Mr. Ellis, who planned to close it 
when his room-mate fell asleep. But Mr. Adams talked for an 
hour, and then said, "I am going to repeat aloud the prayer 
which I have said every night since I was nine years old, and 
then turn over and go to sleep." He then said : 

"Now I lay me down to sleep, 
I pray the Lord my soul to keep ; 
If I should die before I wake. 
I pray the Lord my soul to take. 

Amen." 

After he was safely asleep. Dr. Ellis arose quietly and shut 
the window. He was awakened in the morning by some noise, 
and looking over his bedclothes, he saw Mr. Adams on his 
knees by the side of his open valise, from which he had taken 
his tinder box, and was getting a spark to touch off the kind- 
lings m the grate. He scorned the use of the matches on the 
mantel, preferring the friends of his youth and age, which 
had been his faithful attendants through life. 

There were few articles in domestic use in my youth more 
popular than the apple, and few performing such a variety of 
parts in the performances of the kitchen. A New England 
supper w^ould have been incomplete without an apple pie. The 
English sneer at our corn, saying it is only fit for horses, while 
thev worship their oats, which are more fit for the horse trough 
than the table. So, while they condem.n our apple pie, made 
with a crust thoroughly baked, they gorge themselves in July 
and August and September with gooseberry and green gage 
tarts, which no armored war ship could resist if fired from a 
Whitworth gun at the distance of a mile. Behold the pro- 
ducts of the apple, a roasted apple, a Marlboro pudding, look- 



494 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

ing like an ordinary pie without crust, a pan-dowdy, or apple 
grunt baked with molasses in a deep pan, and the crust brok- 
en in, pork and apples cut up together and cooked, called 
by the Dutch "speck and apple jees," plain apple sauce, apple 
butter or Vermont apple sauce boiled with cider and put up 
for winter, apple brandy warranted to kill at thirty paces, 
called in New Jersey "Jersey lightning," and apple pudding. 
To the apple then, notwithstanding John Bull, let the toast go 
round. 

Perhaps in the history of man no article in common use 
has undergone greater changes than that used in writing, and 
many of those changes have occurred within my memory. 
The stylus of the ancients used on waxen tablets, has become 
a factor in the advance of civilization, until it may now be said 

that: 

"Beneath the rule of men entirely great. 
The pen is mightier than the sword." 

The stylus on waxen tablets gave way to reeds used with a 
fluid on papyrus, and reeds to quills of swans and geese and 
crows. For a long time geese were raised chiefly for their 
quills, and it is said that in one year twenty-seven millions 
of these quills were sent to England from St. Petersburg. Until 
the steel pen was introduced in my later youth, the goose quill 
held undivided sway in the United States, and for some years 
afterwards the price of the steel pen w^as not sufficiently re- 
duced to admit of its popular use. In all the schools which I 
ever attended the teachers spent a large portion of their time in 
mending pens, an occupation so constant and universal as to 
introduce into our vocabulary the name "pen knife," which 
still holds its place, though the use for which it was designed 
has departed. As late as 1858 and 1859, when I was in the 
senate, among the articles of stationery distributed among the 
members, were a bunch of quills and a pen knife. As John 
Ouincy Adams once wrote in a lady's album : 

"In days of yore the poet's pen 
From wing of bird was plundered, 
Perhaps of goose, but now and then 
From Jove's own eagle sundered." 

Of the successive steps taken in the manufacture of pens 
until the steel pen, the gold pen with diamond point, and at 
last the fountain pen came into use, which was followed by the 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 495 

typewriting machine I do not propose to speak. In business 
the machine seems to be coming rapidly into use, and is even 
finding its way into social correspondence. I have an old 
man's notion, which if I live I may outgrow, that only with the 
hand should a letter of friendship be written. Bv the use 
of the typewriter I fear that the accomplishment of letter writ- 
ing has become a thing of the past. 



496 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXXXVII. 

The marriage laws of Massachusetts prevailing to-day are 
different from those in force all through my youth. As early 
as 1786 a law was passed by the General Court of Massachu- 
setts establishing the methods to be pursued by those intend- 
ing to enter into marriage, which provided that all persons 
intending to be joined in marriage, should "cause notice of 
their intention to be filed with the town clerk fourteen days 
before their marriage, which notice should be published by the 
clerk, either by posting up a written notice in some public place 
in the tov/n of which he is clerk, fourteen days at least before 
the m.arriage or by making public proclamation thereof at 
three public religious meetings in the town on separate days, 
not less than three days distant from each other, exclusive of 
the days of publication." This law with slight amendments 
remained in force until 1850, when the present law was enacted 
requiring only a notice to the town clerk, by whom the neces- 
sary certificate would be issued. I remember well the little 
box with a glass front attached to the wall in the vestibule 
of the meeting house in which the marriage intention was 
posted, and I have often heard it read from the pulpit on the 
three Sundays required by law, much to the embarrassment 
of the loving pair sitting within the gaze of the congregation. 

One of the most remarkable developments within my mem- 
ory has been the number of articles claimed to be associated 
with the Mayflower and the Pilgrims. Not a month passes 
without the reception at Pilgrim Hall of a letter offering for 
sale a Mayflower relic. It may be a tea pot, though the Pil- 
grims had no tea ; or a porcelain mug, though the inventories 
recorded in Plymouth contained no porcelain ware until 1660: 
or a fork, which the Pilgrims did not use, or a mahogany 
table, though no mahogany was known in England before 
1700, 

Three articles claimed to have been associated with the Pil- 
grims I have myself proved to bear fictitious labels. One of 
these exhibited a few years ago at a portrait exhibition in Cop- 
ley Square as a miniature of Governor Edward Winslow, when 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 497 

he was six years of age, I have found to be a picture of a son of 
Capt. Thomas Dingley of Marshfield, painted about the time 
of the Revolution. Another article labelled the "Knocker" 
from the door of Governor Winslow's house, was taken from 
the door of a house built by Isaac Winslow, grandson of the 
governor, about 1720. Still another article presented to the 
Pilgrim Society as a part of the doorstep of a church in Delft- 
haven where the Pilgrims held service on the eve of their de- 
parture, owed the origin of its record to a miss-reported 
speech of one of the building committee of a church in Chi- 
cago, who had at its dedication stated that he had imbedded 
in its walls a piece of Plymouth Rock, a stone from Scrooby, 
and a piece of the pavement of a church in Delfthaven, which, 
perhaps, the Pilgrims may have visited. Of course the piece 
of doorstep has never found a lodgment in Pilgrim Hall. 
These fictitious historic relics are interesting as showing the 
veneration in which the Pilgrims are held, which is not shared 
by the Winthrop Colony, or by any other body of men since the 
days of Christ. 

It Avill be remembered by my readers that at the dinner of 
the Old Colony Club on the 22d of December, 1769, the first 
course was "a large baked Indian Whortleberry pudding.'' 
I have often been asked how long the custom continued of 
serving the pudding before the meat, and whether I remem- 
bered such a custom, and my reply has been that the only relic 
of the custom existing within my day was a legend of the prom- 
ise once made at dinner to children, that the more pudding they 
ate the more meat tliey might have. I always supposed that 
this promise was intended to restrict indulgence in nn-at, either 
from motives of economy, or to confine the youthful diet to 
a more wholesome food. I have recently read an extract from 
a book of travels written by Henry Bradshaw Fearon, an 
Englishman, who visited the United States in 181 7. The book 
is in the Congressional Library in Washington, and probably 
never had a circulation on this side of the ocean. It contains 
much of interest to an American reader, including an approxi- 
mately accurate answer to the question concerning the custom 
above mentioned. Mr. Fearon left New York on tlie 8th of 
September, 181 7, on the steamboat Connecticut, bound for 
New Haven, and he described the boat as having an engine 



498 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

of forty horse power, and fitted up with one cabin for ladies, 
two for gentlemen, and an extensive kitchen. Arriving at 
New Haven in twelve hours, he was transferred to the steam- 
boat Fulton, bound to New London, from which place he took 
a stage via Providence for Boston. The fare from New 
York to New Haven, including table board, was seven dollars. 
On a Sunday, while in Boston, he went to Quincy and dined 
with ex-president John Adams. The dinner was served at 
one o'clock, and consisted of a first course of Indian meal 
pudding and molasses, and a second course of veal, bacon, 
neck of mutton, cabbage, carrots, and Indian beans, with Ma- 
deira wine. He said that Boston was the headquarters of 
Federalism in politics and Unitarianism in religion, and that 
the Bostonians were the most intelligent and hospitable people 
he had met in America. Thus it is certain that the pudding 
custom was in vogue in 1817, and was discontinued not long, 
afterwards. 

The allusion above made to ^he steamboats Connecticut .ind 
Fulton, leads me to again refer to the steamboat Eagle, which 
came to Plymouth in 1818 vmder the command of Capt. Lem- 
uel Clark. That boat was built in New York, but like other 
boats was enjoined under a New York law from operating 
in New York waters, on the ground of a monopoly in the use of 
the rivers and harbors of New York, which had been granted 
by the state. Resistance to this monopoly led to the famous 
case of Gibbons against Ogden, in which, while the monopoly 
was held good by the state courts, it was decided by the Su- 
preme Court of the United States to be unconstitutional. 
Pending the decision in that case, steamboats sought business 
in other waters, and the Eagle, before coming to Boston and 
Plymouth, cruised in Chesapeake bay, under the command of 
Capt. Moses Rogers, who was in 18 19 commander of the 
steamship Savannah, which in that year was the first steam- 
ship to cross the Atlantic. A picture of the Eagle is owned 
by the Pilgrim Society. Capt. Rogers was the grandfather 
of our townsman, Dr. Charles Rufus Rogers, and it is the 
story of the Savannah, which leads me into a digression which 
may make necessary an additional chapter of memories which 
I had intended to close with the next chapter. A memoir of 
Capt. Moses Rogers states that the Savannah was a full rigged 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



499 



ship of three hundred and fifty tons, built at Corlear's Hook, 
New York, by Francis Fickett, and launched August 22, 1818. 
She was boug-ht bv Scarborough and Isaacs of Savannah, 
and her machinery, with a ninety horse power engine, having 
forty-inch cylinders, and a five foot stroke, was put in under 
the supervision of Capt. Rogers. Besides the Eagle he had 
already commanded the steamboat Fulton on the Hudson river, 
and the Phenix on the Delaware river. A picture of the Savan- 
nah, a copy of which I have seen, represents her as a vessel 
of fine model, with round stern, a medium clipper bow, and 
s graceful, easy shear. Her wheels were made adjustable, and 
so affixed to the shaft as in stormy weather to be unshipped and 
removed to the deck in twenty minutes. Her wheels con- 
sisted of eight radial arms held in place by one flange, 
and arranged to close like a fan. With her allowance of 
seventy-five tons of coal and twenty-five cords of wood, she 
sailed from New York, March 28, 1819, and arrived at Savan- 
nah April 6, in two hundred and seven hours from Sandy 
Hook lightship, having steamed four days during the passage. 
On the 22d of May she began her voyage from Savannah to 
Liverpool, where she arrived on the 20th of June. Her log 
kept by Stevens Rogers, the sailing master, a brother- 
in-law of Capt. Moses Rogers, is in the possession of the de- 
scendants of Moses, and contains an interesting account of 
the voyage. On the 23d of July the Savannah set sail from 
Liverpool for Cronstadt, touching at Copenhagen and Stock- 
holm on the way, reaching the first named port on the 9th of 
September. A few days later she arrived at St. Petersburg, 
where she remained until October 10, receiving while there 
visits from the Russian Lord High Admiral Marcus de Travys. 
On the 30th of November she again reached Savannah, and 
was run as a packet between that port and New York, until 
she was wrecked on Long Island. 

Questions are often asked in newspapers and elsewhere con- 
cerning the circumstances attending the composition of popu- 
lar hymns and songs, and I have already told my readers al>out 
the origin of "Sweet Home," and the "Star Spangled Banner." 
I have lately read in the Boston Sunday Herald an account 
of the composition of "My Country 'tis of Thee," by Sanuul 
Francis Smith, which may be interesting to those of my read- 



SOO PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

ers who did not happen to see it. Mr. Smith was born in 
Sheafe street, Boston, October 21, 1808, and after attending 
the EHot school and the Boston Latin school, graduated at 
Harvard in 1829. After graduating at the Andover Theo- 
logical Seminary in 1832, he was settled as pastor of the Bap- 
tist church in Waterville, Me., and served as Professor of 
Modem languages in Colby University until he removed to 
Newton, Mass., where he resided until his death. At a meet- 
ing in the Old South Church in Boston, Mr. Smith said, in 
giving a history of the hymn, that many years before Mr. W. 
C. Wcodbridge brought from Germany a number of books con- 
taining words and music used in the schools there, and gave 
them to A'Ir. Lowell Mason, who gave them to him, request- 
ing him to either translate them or write words to such of 
the music as pleased him. In looking these books over, Mr. 
Smith found the notes of our National anthem attached to a 
patriotic hymn, and was inspired by it to write the hymn in 
question. To the tune of "God Save the King," Mr. Smith's 
hymn was sung for the first time at a Sunday-school celebra- 
tion on the Fourth of July, 1832, and received at once such 
popular commendation as to re-christen the tune with the name 
of "America." We, of course, ought to accept Mr. Smith's 
word, but it seems almost increditable that he should have 
never heard of the tune until 1832, when it had been known 
in England as "God Save the King" at least two hundred 
years. It is also singular that the origin of many national 
airs should be involved in doubt. The Marseillaise, Yankee 
Doodle, and to a certain extent the "God Save the King" had 
an obscure, if not doubtful, authorship. The last, however, 
which has by some been attributed to Henry Carey, a musical 
composer who flourished in the time of James the First, seems 
to have been established by good evidence, to have been com- 
posed by John Bull, a contemporary with Carey, who died in 
1622. As I have not been able to trace the name John Bull 
as applied to the English people, farther back than about the 
early part of the lyth century, I think it is a reasonable con- 
jecture that Dr. Bull was not only the author of the National 
anthem, but also through his authorship of that popular air that 
he gave the name for all time to his fellow countrymen. 
The compositon of the favorite Pilgrim hymn "Sons of Re- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



501 



riowned Sires" by Judge John Davis of Boston in 1794, is in- 
teresting. Coming to Plymouth on the evening of the 21st 
of December to attend a celebration of the anniversary of the 
Landing on the next day, the regret was expressed to him that 
no original hymn had been prepared for the occasion, as had 
been intended. He expressed no intention to write one, but 
at an early hour retired to his chamber with his wife. In- 
stead of going to bed lie began to walk the room to the annoy- 
ance of his wife, and against her earnest remonstrances. Mrs. 
Davis fell asleep, waking occasionally, and finding him still 
walking, and the bed candle unsnuffed and smoking. Not 
having the remotest idea what he was doing, she became alarm- 
ed for his sanity, and again and again her sleep was broken 
by the noise of his footsteps. At last the candle was extin- 
guished, and in the morning Mr. Davis surprised the com- 
mittee with the hymn, which was sung that day to the tune of 
"God Save the King," thirty-eight years before Mr. Smith, 
the author of his anthem, had ever heard of it, and which has 
been sung probably at every Pilgrim celebration since. 

The story of the inspiration of "The Breaking Waves Dashed 
High," written by Mrs. Hemans, is also an interesting one. 
In 1825 she was living with her brother at Rhyllon, a parish 
of St. Asaph at the mouth of the river Clwyd in North Wales. 
After shopping one day, one of her purchases was sent home 
in a bandbox covered with a newspaper, which she noticed 
was a Boston daily. Before throwing the paper away or burn- 
ing it, she had the curiosity to look over its contents in which 
she found a long account of the Pilgrim celebration in Plym- 
outh on December 22, 1824, and copious extracts from the ora- 
tion delivered by Edward Everett. The Pilgrim story was a 
new one to her, and the account, which she read with great 
interest, was so circumstantial as to inspire her with the gran- 
deur of the theme. She told Rev. Charles T. Brooks on a visit 
to her later home in Dublin, that she at once, after reading the 
account, turned to her desk and wrote the immortal lines. The 
original manuscript of the hymn she gave to James T. Fields 
of Boston, and it is now preserved in the cabinet of the Pil- 
grim Society, a gift from Mr. Fields. 

It is singular how many of our best hymns have been the 
work of an hour. It has been said that the missionary hymn 



502 ]'LYMOUTH MEMORIES 

by Reginald Heber, was one of those sudden inspirations. It 
was written in 1819, while he was occupying a living in Hod- 
net in Shropshire, which had been given to him by his brother 
Richard, who was a member of parliament, and an owner of 
large estates in that shire. In 1823 he was consecrated Bishop 
of Calcutta, and died in India in 1826. Before going to India 
he devoted himself to literary pursuits, and wrote many hymns, 
which won a permanent place in hymnology, among which 
was that sweetly flowing hymn: 

"By cool Saloam's shady rill 
How sweet the lily grows." 

I have heard it said that on one occasion Mr. Heber was 
invited by a brother clergyman in a neighboring parish to of- 
ficiate at a missionary service to be held in his church. In the 
course of the evening, before the day of the service, his friend 
asked him if it would be possible for him to compose a hymn 
appropriate to the occasion. Mr. Heber said he would try, and 
retiring to another room, composed the hymn which for appro- 
priateness and beauty, has rarely been equalled. His brother 
Richard was an author of note, and left at his death perhaps 
the largest private library ever collected in England. It con- 
tained 146,875 volumes, and after his death, the library was 
sold at an auction which continued through two hundred and 
sixteen days, and realized sixty thousand pounds. 

Some years ago I heard the story of an incident which sug- 
gested "The Hanging of the Crane," one of the most charming 
poems of Longfellow. In the early married life of Aldrich, 
the poet, Longfellow dropped into his house one night and 
found him and his wife sitting alone at their evening meal. 
"Ah," said he, as he entered the supper room and took a seat 
at the table, "here Aldrich, is a whole poem, and I will give you 
the subject to work out." His friend, believing that the ar- 
tist who paints a scene in his imagination, should put it on the 
canvas, said, "No, Longfellow, use it yourself." After some 
years of elaboration the poem appeared, depicting the changing 
scenes in married life, which the following selected extracts 
sufficiently describe. Happy are the father and mother who 
live to witness the scenes which time discloses as it unrolls the 
canvas : 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 503 

"And now I sit and muse on what may be, 
And in mj' vision, see or seem to see. 
Through floating vapors interfused with light,. 
Shapes indeterminate, that gleam and fade, 
As shadows passing into deeper shade, 
Sink and elude the sight. 
For two alone, there in the hall, 
Is spread the table round and small. 

* * * * 

Seated I see the two again, 

But not alone ; they entertain 

A little angel unaware. 

With face as round as is the moon ; 

A royal guest with flaxen hair 

Who throned upon his lofty chair 

Drums on the table with his spoon. 

There arc two guests at table now; 
The King, deposed and older grown, 
No longer occupies the throne — 
The crown is on his sister's brow. 

* * * * 
I see the table wider grown, 

I see it garlanded with guests. 
As if fair Ariadne's crown 
Out of the sky had fallen down. 

And now like the magician's scroll 
That in the owner's keeping shrinks. 
With every wish he speaks or thinks, 
Till the last wish consumes the whole. 
The table dwindles, and again 
I see the two alone remain. 
The crown of stars is broken in parts. 
Its jewels brighter than the day 
Have one by one been stolen away 
To shine in other homes and hearts. 

What see I now? the night is fair; 
The storm of grief, the clouds of care. 
The wind, the rain have passed away ; 
The lamps are lit, the fires burn bright. 
The house is full of life and light ; 
It is the Golden Wedding Day. 
The guests come thronging in once more ; 
Quick footsteps sound along the floor ; 
The trooping children crowd the stair; 



5^4 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

And in and out and everywhere 
Flashes along the corridor 
The sunshine of their golden hair. 
On the round table, in the hall, 
Another Ariadne's crown 
Out of the sky hath fallen down; 
More than one monarch of the moon 
Is drumming with his silver spoon ; 
The light of love shines over all. 
The ancient bridegroom and the bride 
Smiling contented and serene 
Upon the blithe, bewildering scene, 
Behold well pleased on every side 
Their forms and features multiplied." 

The impromptu remark of Mr. Longfellow to Aldrich might 
have been like many other impromptus thought out before. If 
so, however, it was under authority of a poet's Hcense. Per- 
haps it was like another of Mr. Longfellow's impromptus, of 
which I heard many years ago. While attending as a delegate 
the National Republican Convention in Cincinnati in 1876, a 
party composed of James Russell Lowell, Judge E. R. Hoar, 
Mr. Roosevelt, the father of the President, who were also dele- 
gates, and myself, took a carriage and drove out to the estate 
of Nicholas Longworth to call on him and see his wine vaults. 
Mr. Longworth told us that Mr. Longfellow had made a recent 
call on him, and when introduced had said : "Mr. Longworth, 
you have the advantage of me, for you know Pope says, "That 
worth makes the man, and the want of it the fellow.' " Some 
men would have thought of the bo7i mot the next day, and 
realized what the French call I' esprit d'escallier, a good thing 
thought of too late. But Mr. Longfellow was quick witted 
enough to think of the good thing "while going up stairs and 
not while going down." There have been severe critics of 
Longfellow who would not have hesitated to pronounce the 
above impromptu deliberately prepared. Thev have charged 
him with plagiarism, and have said that the "Psalm of Life" 
is composed of thoughts from Goethe and Calderon and Schil- 
ler, and have declared that "there is not one striking image, and 
barely one striking phrase in the poem which originated abso- 
lutelv with himself." They also claim that from Soame 

Jennyn's was taken the substance of those beautiful lines : 

"Still like muffled drums are beating 
Funeral marches to the grave." 



OF AX OCTOGENARIAN. 505 

But these critics cannot deny that the dress in wliich the 
above thoughts were clothed, and in which they captivate the 
reader, were his own. Would any one on the following- state- 
ment of facts claim that Webster was a plagiarist? Rev. Dr. 
John Pierpont wrote for the Plymouth celeljration on the 22(1 
of December, 1824, a hymn containing the following stanza : 

"The Pilgrim Fathers are at rest. 

When Summer's throned on high, 

And the world's warm breast is in verdure dressed 

Go stand on the hill where they lie. 

The earliest ray of the golden day 

On that hallowed spot is cast, 

And the evening sun as he leaves the world. 

Looks kindly on that spot last." 

On the 17th of June, 1825, Mr. Webster delivered his mem- 
orable oration at the laying of the cornerstone of Bunker Hill 
monument, containing the well known passage, "Let it rise 
till it meet the sun in his coming; let the earliest light of the 
morning gild it, and parting day linger and play on its sum- 
mit." 



506 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



CHAPTER XXXXVni. 

During my boyhood there was an article which had been for 
many years in the cookery department of our house, but which 
had recently gone out of use. It was called a roasting Jack, 
and preceded the tin kitchen in roasting meats and poultry. I 
remember it well, but I have little doubt that like many another 
relic of the past, it found its way into the junk heap of William 
Nye on the approach of some muster or election day, when we 
boys wanted money for lobsters and lemonade and other pro- 
moters of a stomachache which, perhaps, in these days of fads 
would have been called appendicitis. It was an iron cylinder 
about four inches in diameter and six inches long, attached at 
the top with an intermediate swivel to the chimney crane, and 
at the bottom to a hook or some other contrivance which held 
the meat. Inside of the cylinder there was a clock work ma- 
chinery, which when wound up would keep the hook constant- 
ly turning before the fire. It probably went out of use be- 
tween 1800 and 1820. 

There was another kind of roasting Jack, consisting of a spit 
resting on hooks attached to the andirons to which a wheel was 
affixed, which was kept turning by a chain band running from 
a larger wheel moved by clock work attached to the under side 
of the mantel piece. I have no doubt that many of my 
readers have seen the hooks on old andirons without knowing 
the purpose for which they were intended. These hooks may 
be seen on a pair of andirons in the Pilgrim Hall Library. 

There was another article closely associated with my child- 
hood, which I have thus far omitted to mention. How often 
have I sat in a high chair with a bib under my chin, and a pap 
spoon in hand, feeding myself out of a porringer. I supposed 
that the porringer was the sole prerogative of children ; that it 
was designed expressly for their use, but I had not then learned 
the fictions of legendary lore, and that the world is all a fleeting 
show for a child's illusion given. I learned the true origin 
and use of the porringer some years ago. A lady wrote to 
me that an elderly lady in Roxbury in somewhat reduced cir- 
cumstances owned a china soup tureen which was once used 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 507 

in the household of Queen Anne, and would be ^lad to sell it. 
I went to see it, and found a very handsome tureen, but I saw 
at once on its cover a knob representing a rabbit's ear. the ex- 
clusive mark of Wedgewood, who flourished during the time 
of Queen Charlotte, and made a very beautiful cream colored 
ware, of which this tureen was a specimen, and in honor of 
Queen Charlotte called it "queen's ware." The story accom- 
panying the tureen was that an ancestor of its present owner 
was at one time attached to Queen Anne's Court, as one of the 
ladies in waiting, and afterwards becoming reduced, emi- 
grated to New Brunswick, carrying with her the tureen, which 
she received as a present during her service in the household 
of the Queen. It is easy to account for the legend of its ori- 
gin by the supposition of some later owner, knowing it was 
called queen's ware, that it was a part of the ware of the 
queen of whose household an ancestor was a member. Not 
being satisfied with the result of my examination I began a 
further investigation of the origin of soup tureens as articles 
of table ware, and found that in the reign of Queen Anne, they 
were neither used or known. The custom was to have soup 
brought to the table by the servants in porringers, one of which 
was placed before each guest. This was the design and pur- 
pose of the porringer, and this was its use until the appearance 
of the tureen about the middle of the eighteenth century, when 
it was relegated to the use of children. In my day the por- 
ringer was made of either silver or pewter, but as the fashion 
of its use has gradually gone out the silver porringer has found 
its way to the melting pot, and the pewter one to the bric-a- 
brac store. 

There are doubtless many genuine relics of the Queen Anne 
period in existence. I have a hammered brass wine cooler of 
that period, which came down in my mother's family from 
John White, son of Peregrine W'hite, born in Marshficld about 
1660, It is about the size and shape of an ordinary soup tu- 
reen, with solid brass handles and slots around its edge, in 
which wine glasses were hung with their bowls in the water. 
It was called a "Monteth," and took its name from the inven- 
tor. The poet William King, who was born in 1663, and died 
in 1712, alluded to the article in the following lines: 
"New names produce new words, and thus Monteth 
Has by a vessel saved his name from death." 



508 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Among the books which I have examined with reference to 
the articles above mentioned, is a very interesting one entitled 
"Social life in the reign of Queen Anne," to which I refer the 
student of habits and customs in the early part of the i8th cen- 
tury. 

In the flowers and fruits and trees of Plymouth the changes 
in my day have not been striking. The garden flora are the 
same as in my youth, except that new flowers have been intro- 
duced, and new and improved varieties of the old ones. Fash- 
ion has occasionally relegated some flowers to tem.porary ob- 
scurity, but in many instances has restored them to their old 
rank or to a higher one. In my youth the tulip filled every 
border in yard and garden, but in time fashion called it vulgar, 
and it retired from the floral social life. But it returned in 
due season, like a girl from a fashionable school with the flush 
of beauty and with cultivated taste, and became instead of the 
wall flower, one of the belles of the ball. The hollyhock once 
banished to the back yard, is now the .guardian of our doorway, 
and nods a graceful welcome to every guest, while the sun- 
flower, once the occupant of the poultry yard, now stands in 
splendid defiance under our windows, and hourly challenges 
the sun to do his best. 

The most remarkable change in our gardens has been in con- 
nection with the tomato introduced from Mexico, and there 
called tomatl. In 1831 Dr. Jas. Thacher of Plymouth, who 
was fond of introducing new things, secured some seed and 
gave my mother some, which she planted. I remember the 
plant well, with its burdens of gorgeous fruit, which was look- 
ed upon rather as a garden ornament than food for the table. 
It was not long, however, before it came into general use as a 
summer vegetable, and finally as a preserve in cans for winter 
use, until it may now be said that in the extent of its use it 
stands next to the potato. Though long supposed to have 
been of Mexican origin, it has been recently found that nations 
in Africa had long used it, and esteemed it a valuable article of 
food. I have an impression that in the summer of 1831 it 
ripened much earlier than it does now. It is a serious objec- 
tion that as a crop it ripens so late that practically the whole 
crop ripens at the same time, and as a perishable vegetable is 
rushed into the market at prices too low to make its cultiva- 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



509 



tion profitable. The canninc:, however, of large quantities, has 
served in recent years to help prices by increasing the demand. 
A writer in Blackwood says, "the tomato is a noble fruit, as 
sweet in smell as the odors of Araby, and makes an illustrious 
salad. Its medicinal virtue is as great as its gastronomical 
goodness. It is the friend of the well to keep them well, and 
the friend of the sick to bring them back into the lost sheep- 
folds of Hygeia. The Englishman's travelling companion, the 
blue pill, would never be needed if he would pay proper court 
to the tomato." 

Among the fruits brought into use in Plymouth from foreign 
fields, the banana has had the most striking history. I re- 
member the first one 1 ever saw, and the first brought to Plym- 
outh. It was about the year 1833 that Capt. Samuel Rogers 
in command of the schooner Capitol, belonging to Daniel and 
Abraham Jackson, biought to Plymouth several bunches of ba- 
nanas, one of which he gave to Mr. Abraham Jackson, in 
whose yard I saw it hanging on a tree. The bunch was of the 
yellow variety, and Capt. Rogers called it plantain. As the 
demand for this fruit has increased, the banana fields of Porto 
Rico, Jamaica and Costa Rica have been immensely enlarged 
until regular lines of steamers from those places now bring 
into the United States tv\'enty-five millions of bunches annual- 
ly, or twenty-five hundred millions of bananas, enough to sup- 
ply annually thirty bananas to every man, woman and child, in- 
cluding negroes. The fruit is now sold at so low a price, and 
is so universally used that I think it safe to say that no fruit, 
not excepting apples, has so large a consumption. 

The most striking change in fruits during my time has been 
in the cultivation of cranberries. They have always been 
known as a native of New England, and John Smith found 
them in a visit here in 1614. They have always found their 
best natural growth in grassy meadows or swamps, where de- 
cay of vegetable matter has supplied the soil with organic 
acids. I know some patches of such meadows today where 
the cranberry has borne fruit hundreds of years. These nat- 
ural berries are better than the cultivated ones, probably be- 
cause the sand with which the made bog is covered has dimin- 
ished the supply of organic acids. The general consumer has 
not yet discovered that the native berry weighs a number of 



5IO TLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

pounds more to the bushel than the cultivated one, and has a 
richer flavor. In 1855 the statistics of Plymouth showed an 
acre and a half of cranberry bog valued at $15 — while at the 
present time there are 984 acres valued at $393,600. 

Some fruits which were abundant in our gardens during my 
youth, have entirely disappeared. I knew then scarcely a 
garden without its plums, gages and damsons, the latter of 
which were especially prized for preserving. When it is asked 
what has become of these trees, it is often answered that they 
have run out. But such an answer is absurd, because if they 
had run out in one place, they would have run out everywhere. 
But the plum and gage are raised in California and sold in 
Boston and Plymouth at a profit to the producer after a travel 
of three thousand miles across the continent. The trouble is 
that the soil has run out after nearly three centuries of culti- 
vation without renewal of those properties and ingredients 
which successive crops have exhausted. If the virgin soils of 
California were analyzed, and their fertilizing constituents 
when discovered were applied to our worn out gardens, they 
would doubtless be rejuvenated. Our people have not even 
been content with robbing the ground of its crops without 
adding to and restoring its vitality, but they have year after 
year raked out every stone, great and small, leaving the ground 
a mere black paste, instead of a vigorous loam. They have 
yet to learn that the feldspar in granite contains potash enough 
if we knew how to extract it to fertilize the fields in which the 
farmer looks on stones as nuisances to be rid of. I have seen 
some evidence in the rank growth of grass around stone heaps 
and under stone walls that nature may have found some method 
b}^ chemical action of eliminating the feldspar potash which the 
rocks contain. The condition of the trees on Boston Common, 
of which in late years we have heard much complaint illustrates 
in my opinion the necessity of restoring to the soil precisely 
those qualities which year after year the trees have been using 
up. Mr. Doogue, the superintendent, last season, or the sea- 
son before, ploughed the ground and planted grain as if the 
surface needed loosening and enriching to permit the access of 
rain to the roots of the trees, but I do not believe that he has 
reached or remedied the trouble. If he would come to Plym- 
outh I could show him by an object lesson what the trees need. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. en 

Let him make a visit to our woods, where with no more than 
two mches of soil on a substratum of sand and gravel, a thick 
growth of oaks and pines sends up every season a foot or more 
of upward growth, and preserves through the dryest summers 
a rich fohage. They simply live on the leaves which they shed 
in the autumn for their own use, and which they find in the 
spring that no robber has carried away. If Mr. Doogue, in- 
stead of raking the common and carting off the leaves will de- 
posit them in trenches around the trees covered with a little 
earth, his trees will doubtless revive. 

Among the trees which have practically disappeared in my 
day are the Buttonwood and Balm of Gilead. The Button- 
wood or Sycamore or Plane tree, grew in various localities 
within the town, and until about the year 1845, ^ row of But- 
tonwoods stood on the front of the lot which now includes 
Cushman street and the lots on both sides. [as. Russell 
Lowell was undoubtedly familiar with it when he wrote in his 
"Beaver Brook." 

"Beneath a bony buttonwood 
The mill's red door swings open wide ; 
The whitened miller, dust imbued, 
Flits past the square of dark inside." 

The Buttonwood bush is an entirely distinct plant deriving 
its name from the globules it bears resembling buttons in shape. 

There was during my youth a row of Balm of Gileads or 
Balsam poplars five or six in number, standing below the stone 
wall opposite the North side of the Plymouth Rock House. 
The buds of the trees covered with a resinous matter, were 
much sought after as cures for cuts and wounds. Only a 
very few of these trees are now standing in Plymouth. 

There is the hornbeam tree often spoken of in the division 
of lands in the early days of Plymouth Colony, of which very 
few specimens are now found in our woods. Wood in "New 
England's Prospect," under date of 1639 says, "the horn hound 
tree is a tough kind of wood that requires so much pains in 
riving as is almost incredible; being the best to make bowls 
and dishes, not being subject to crack or leak." lie says: 
"The horn-bound tree that to be cloven scorns; 
Which from the tender vine oft takes his spouse 
Who twines embracing arms about his boughs." 

The trees of New England seem to have been the same as 



512 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

those which were natives of England. The EngHsh poet 
Spencer in the first book of the first canto of "The Faerie Queen" 
enumerates the latter in the following lines : 

"Much can they praise the trees so straight and hy. 

The sayling Pine ; the Cedar proud and tall ; 

The vine-propt Elme ; the Popplar never dry ; 

The builder Oake, sole king of forrests all ; 

The Aspine, good for staves ; the Cypresse funerall ; 

The Laurell, meed of mightie conquerors 

And poets sage ; the Firre that weepeth still ; 

The Willow, worne of forlorne paramours ; 

The Eugh, obedient to the bender's will ; 

The Birch for shaftes ; the Sallow for the mill ; 

The Mirrhe, sweete-bleeding in the bitter wound ; 

The warlike Beech ; the Ash for nothing ill ; 

The fruitful Olive, and the Platane round; 

The corner Holme ; the Maple seldom inward sound." 

The sapling pine was the tree of which stafifs were made; 
the builders' oak was the white oak ; the sallow was a kind of 
willow ; the platane was the plane, and the holm was the holly. 
The olive may have been some tree now known by another 
name. 

The beech tree at one time within my recollection was al- 
most extinct in Plymouth woods, and was rarely found except 
on islands in the woodland ponds. I have heard that the 
same was true of the beech in the Middlesex Fells, which sug- 
gests that woods fires which could not reach the islands may 
have thinned the beeches out. The fact that in recent years 
the beech is again making its appearance in the Plymouth Park 
and other protected localities, adds force to the suggestion. 

Elm trees have always abounded in New England, doubtless 
including Plymouth, and are much handsomer than the Eng- 
lish elms, though the latter retaining the custom of their habi- 
tat, leave out earlier in the spring than the American, and 
hold their leaves longer in the autumn. As far as I know 
there is no positive record of an elm tree from the natural for- 
ests in New England. The ages of the old elm on the Com- 
mon in Boston, and of the Brookline and Pittsfield elms, is not 
known. There are contemporary records of an elm in New 
York city, standing on the comer of Wall and Broad streets as 
late as 1670, which measured more than thirty feet in circum- 
ference, and was called by the Dutch, "der Groot Tree." The 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



513 



trees now standings in Town Square, three of the five planted 
by my great-grandfather, Thomas Davis, in 1784, are young 
compared with the New York tree, and ought not to be in the 
languishing condition they now exhibit. With the ground in 
the square packed solid, it is impossible for rains to reach their 
roots. If a fence were built around each tree, and the ground 
within it dug up and kept loose, there can be no doubt that 
water would find its way to the roots and along them to the 
most distant rootlets. There is the same trouble with all the 
ornamental trees along our concreted sidewalks. We are 
spending hundreds of dollars each year in spraying their fol- 
iage to check the ravages of the beetle and miller, and at the 
same time by grass and concrete and macadamizing sentenc- 
ing them to certain death. I commend the subject to the 
Plymouth Natural History Society, who on examination of 
the beautiful tree in the front of the new fire station, a central 
jewel in our coronet of trees, will find that we have been pur- 
suing the policy of a physician who would treat a patient for 
loss of hair, who is dying of hunger and thirst. 

Among other adopted trees are the European Linden, and 
the English Birch. Mr. George B. Emerson, the eminent 
naturalist, told me once he thought the latter the most beautiful 
tree in America. It undoubtedly has the merit of putting out 
its leaves earlier than our trees, and holding them longer, but I 
have never seen one standing erect if alone, or if more than 
forty years old retaining life and vigor in its upper branches. 
On the other hand I think the European Linden, of which we 
have noble specimens in Plymouth, is on the whole the most 
satisfactory ornamental tree for a bleak sea exposure like that 
of Plymouth. I have found in Holland, the countn^ of Lin- 
dens, none to compare with the Lindens on North street, which 
grow straight and regular, under blasting winds, and T have 
seen them as late as the 6th of October without a yellow leaf. 

Of the animals and birds and their changes within my day, I 
can say little. They are very much the same as in the days 
of the Pilgrims. The wild turkey disappeared before my 
time, and I think that they are only to be found in Massa- 
chusetts today in the Berkshire hills. All through inv youth 
the wild pigeons were abundant in our grain fields and huckle- 
berry woods, but they are now rare. Martins also were flying 



514 I'LYMOUTH MEMORIES 

about our houses, and nearly every householder had a martin 
box under the eaves of his dwelHng, or on a staff standing in 
liis yard. The Enghsh sparrow stole their nests, and they fled 
like the aborigines before the English immigrant. 

The fish are the same as those described by Wood and Jos- 
selyn, writers in Pilgrim days, some, however having disap- 
peared for a time and returned. I remember being at Holmes 
Hole during the Civil War, and being told that the weak fish 
or squeteague had returned after an absence of twenty-five 
years. In Josselyn's New England's rareties a fish called 
Gurnard is spoken of, and is also mentioned in a poem by 
Steendamn, a Dutchman, written, perhaps, about 1640 or 1650, 
in the following lines, descriptive of fish in New York waters : 

"The bream and sturgeon, drum fish and gurnard 
The sea-bass which a prince would not discard ; 
The cod and salmon cooked with due regard 
Most palatable." 

I am anxious to know what fish under its American name the 
gurnard is. The Gurnet, at the entrance of Plymouth harbor, 
was named after a headland in the English Channel, which in 
shape resembled the Gurnet, a fish in English waters. On the 
coast of Wales there is another headland named Gurnard, after 
the fish gurnard, the French name of the fish called in English, 
gurnet. The gurnard has lost its French name with us, and 
I was not aware until I saw the name in Wood and Josselyn, 
that the gurnet fish was found in our waters under the name 
of gurnard. 

There was a piece of household furniture in my youth which 
I believe has gone out of use. The trundle bed was intro- 
duced by the Dutch, by whom it was called "een slaapbauck 
op rollen." The bedsteads were universally four posted and 
high enough from the floor to permit the trundle bed to be kept 
under it, and to be rolled out at night when the younger chil- 
dren were sent to bed. When the baby grew to be too large 
for the cradle, or was deposed bv a new comer, it was pro- 
moted to the trundle bed, and when a newer comer appeared 
the trundle bed held two until the bedstead, with its chintz 
curtains, became the court of last resort. In old Colonial days 
the bedsteads were made of sassafras wood, which was believed 
to be an effectual protection against vermin. For hundreds of 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



5'5 



years the curative properties of sassafras were hig-hly esteemed 
by the Indians, and when Champlain first sailed up the St. 
Lawrence he carried back to France lars^e quantities of it to be 
used especially as a cure for venereal diseases. Within my 
day sassafras poles have been used as roosts in hen houses as 
a protection against hen lice. 

The treatment of whiskers has changed almost as often as 
each generation came on the stage. The use of the razor is 
as old as the history of man. In the book of Isaiah it is writ- 
ten in the twentieth verse of the seventh chapter, "In the same 
day shall the Lord shave with a razor." Elzekiel. in the first 
verse of chapter five says, "Take thee a sharp knife, take thee a 
barber's razor and cause it to pass upon thy head and upon thy 
beard." Pliny states that barbers were common in his time, 
though onlv a short time before beards were allowed to grow. 
He also speaks of spider webs, applied with oil and vinegar to 
cuts received in barber shops, and also speaks of hones and 
whetstones for sharpening razors. In the time of Adrian 
beards were again allowed to grow, and so the changes and 
fashions went on. In the time of Queen Elizabeth the wear- 
inp^ of beards was controlled by law, and it was ordered that 
no fellow of Lincoln's Inn should wear a beard of more than 
two weeks' growth. The barber's brush was introduced in 
modem times. A writer named Stubb, in a work entitled 
"Anatomy of Abuses," published about 1550, in speaking of 
barbers, wrote, "When they came to washing, oh, how gingerly 
thev behave themselves therein. For then shall your mouths 
be bossed with the lather or some that runneth off the balls, 
your eves closed must be anointed therewith also." In the 
ver}- beginning of the last century a poetical wag wrote the 
following lines showing that at that time the face was clean 
shaved by barbers. 

"Strap that razor so keen ! strap that razor again ! 

And Smallpiece will shave em. if he can come at em ; 

From his stool clad in aprons, he springs up amain 

Like a barber refreshed by the smell of pomatum. 

From the place where he lay, 

He leaps in array 

To lather and shave in the face of the day, 

He has sworn from pollution our faces to clean 

Our cheeks, necks and upper lips, whiskers and chin." 



5l6 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

In 1829 a public meeting was held in New York against 
whiskers, and about the same time there was a movement in 
Plymouth against them. Barbers and surgeons were incor- 
porated as one company in the fifteenth century, and were 
called barber surgeons. Henry the Eighth dissolved the 
union and gave a new charter in 1540, in which it was provid- 
ed "That no person using any shaving or barbery in London, 
shall occupy any surgery, letting of blood or other matter, 
excepting only the drav/ing of teeth." Under the law bar- 
bers and surgeons were each to use a pole, that of the barber's, 
blue and white striped, and that of the surgeon's, the same, 
with the addition of a galipot and a red rag. As near as I 
can learn the use of a pole began as early as the 13th century, 
when "a stafr bound by a riband was held by persons being 
bled, and the pole was intended to denote the practice of blood 
letting." The staflf was about three feet long, with a ball on the 
top and a fillet or tape attached, which when not in use was 
wound around it. So that the present barber's pole represents 
a part of the barber's business, that of blood letting, which long 
since passed to the prerogative of the surgeon. 

During my youth beards were unknown among Americans, 
and until 1852 I do not think that a person of any nationality 
had in my time ever worn a moustache in Plymouth. In the 
summer of 1854. while occupying for a time the house now oc- 
cupied by Col. Wm. P. Stoddard, I was confined to the house 
by illness about three weeks, and during that time permitted 
my moustache to grow, intending to shave it off before going 
into the street. When I had recovered sufficiently to go out 
I took an airing in the carriage of the late Ephraim Finney, 
having failed to carry out my intention, and my appendage was 
so roundly condemned by all my friends that I permitted it to 
grow, and I have never parted with it since. During the next 
summer a meeting of the descendants of Elder Thomas Cush- 
man, was held in Plymouth, and Rev. Dr. Robert W. Cushman, 
the orator of the occasion was a guest with his wife at my 
house. I heard of his saying after he returned home, that he 
stayed with me while in Plymouth, and then adding — what a 
pity that a man like Mr. Davis should wear a moustache. I 
doubt whether there are many older moustaches in Massachu- 
setts than mine. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 517 



CHAPTER XXXXIX. 

The habits of our people in the use of tobacco have been 
somewhat changeable. The use outside of medicine and sur- 
gery has been confined to smoking, chewing, snuffing and dip- 
ping. The last is practiced by applying moistened snuff with 
a brush to the gums, and has never been resorted to in New 
England to any considerable extent. I am inclined to think 
that it has been chiefly confined to the poor whites in the South. 
Snuff taking is a habii introduced into New England at a 
comparatively recent period, and of course was unknown to the 
aborigines. Its use had, however, a rapid growth, when once 
introduced, and in my youth was common among our people of 
both sexes, though I am inclined to think more so among wo- 
men than men. In every grocery store there always stood on 
the counter two jars of snuff, and this fact alone shows its ex- 
tensive use. I cannot recall more than thirty persons who 
were in the habit of carrying snuff boxes, and these did not 
belong to any special class or occupation. I remember that 
during the sessions of the Supreme and Common Pleas Courts 
an open box of snuff always lay on the clerk's desk, and was 
frequently visited by the members of the bar, as well as by the 
judges on the bench. 

It is said that of all the tobacco habits that of snuff taking is 
the most difficult to abandon. The story is told of Charles 
Lamb and Thomas Hone, both inveterate snuffers, walking 
one day on Hamstead Heath, and coming to the resolution to 
give up the habit, threw their snuff boxes away. The next 
morning Lamb visited the Heath to recover his box, and there 
encountered Hone hunting in the shrubbery for his. 

The practice of smoking is ancient. While the use of 
cigars in England and the United States cannot be traced 
to a period earlier than 1700, pipes were used by the aborigines, 
and have been found in the ancient mounds of the West. 
Whether tobacco was smoked before the davs of the Pilgrims, 
so far as New England was concerned, is doubtful, while at an 
earlier period the natives of the South and West undoubtedlv 
both used and cultivated it. It is certain that as late as King 



5l8 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Phillip's War in 1676, the New England Indian, while smok- 
ing tobacco when he could get it, used various substitutes. On 
this point we have the testimony of Mrs. Rowlandson, the wife 
of the minister of Lancaster, Mass., who was captured by the 
Indians and confined in the Camp of King Phillip. When a 
messenger was sent to King Phillip to negotiate for her release, 
she sent back word asking her husband to send her some tobac- 
co for Phillip. She stated in a later narrative that when she 
saw Phillip, "he bade me come in and sit down, and asked me 
whether I would smoke it, but this no way suited me. For 
though I had formerly used tobacco, yet I had left it ever since 
I was first taken. It seems to be a bait the devil lays to make 
men loose their precious time. I remember with shame how 
formerly when I had taken two or three pipes I was presently 
ready for another, such a bewitching 'thing' it is, but I thank 
God he has now given me power over it ; surely there are many 
who may be better employed than to lie sucking a stinking 'to- 
bacco pipe.' " She further said that the Indians for want of 
tobacco smoked hemlock and ground ivy. From the above 
statement it will be seen that smoking was common to both 
sexes. The laws, however, from a very early period, were 
rigid in their provisions against smoking in public places. In 
1638 the General Court ordered "that no man shall take any to- 
bacco within twenty poles of any house, or so near as may en- 
danger the same." One of the latest statutes on the subject 
was passed in 1798, which "forbade carrying fire through the 
streets, except in a covered vessel, as well as smoking or hav- 
ing in one's possession any lighted pipe or cigar in the streets 
or on the wharves." This laiw remained in force many years. 
In 1835 a by-law was adopted by the town of Plymouth, which 
I believe has never been repealed, forbidding smoking in any 
street, lane, public .square or wharf within the town. I do 
not remember to have seen in all my boyhood any person smok- 
ing about the streets, or at his work. No ship carpenter in his 
yard, no rigger on the mast, no blacksmith at the forge, no dig- 
ger in the garden or street, ever held a pipe in his mouth, wast- 
ing the time of his employer, in cutting tobacco, and filling his 
pipe. It was not because the practice was an expensive one, 
but because the fashion of the day was opposed to it. The 
mechanic and the farmer smoked in a leisure hour, or after his 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



519 



meal, but no woman was seen at home or in the field, or any- 
where else smoking at all. Doctors and lawyers i^moked oc- 
casionally in their offices, business men rarely behind their 
counters, while a minister who used tobacco in anv form was 
unknown. In later years, however, smoking has become a 
frequent practice among the clergy, but so far as my observa- 
tion has gone, chiefly among those of the Episcopalian and Un- 
itarian denominations. I once detected in the check of an 
eminent divine a suspicious swelling, and when I spoke of it, 
he said that it was his invariable habit to preach with a cud of 
tobacco in his mouth. Since the early days of which I speak, 
pipe smoking has largely taken the place of cigar smoking, 
and the use of both cigars and pipes has found its way into 
times and places where forty years ago it would not have been 
tolerated. Several causes have contributed to this change. 
In the first place cigars were much cheaper in 1840 and 1850, 
and their higher cost has led to the more economical use of the 
pipe. When I began to smoke in 1838, Havana cigars sold at 
retail at five dollars a quarter box of two hundred and fifty. 
The same cigars today would cost twenty dollars. In the sec- 
ond place the coming in of foreigners largely increased the use 
of the pipe, and lastly the Civil War taught the use of the pipe 
to soldiers in the camp, who under normal conditions would 
not have taken it up. Now we are seeing, to say nothing of 
smelling, either the cigar or the pipe everywhere, in the street, 
in the office, in court houses, in the state house, between the 
lips of the mechanic at his work, the provision dealer on his 
cart, and indeed almost in every place except the pulpit and 
school, from which it is a matter of congratulation that they 
are yet excluded. Being a smoker myself, I cannot be charg- 
ed with prejudice when T express the opinion that this exces- 
sive and ill-timed use of tobacco not only violates rules of good 
taste and propriety, but is well nigh a nuisance. 

The habit of using tooth picks is of recent origin. In Bos- 
ton on any day between twelve and two o'clock, nearly every 
third woman met in the vicinity of Winter and West streets, 
has a tooth pick between her lips. This practice is made more 
vulgar when at table the hand is held over the mouth, for 
thus its vulgarity is acknowledged by those who persist in it. 

The changing fashions in dress have been so constant that 



520 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

it is futile to attempt to trace them. The greatest change in 
the United States occurred at the close of the revolution, when 
what was called republican simplicity took the place of the 
dress which characterized the first three-quarters of the i8th 
century of which such fine illustrations may be found in the 
works of Smybert, Blackburn and Copley. There is some- 
thing absurd about this so-called republican simplicity, which 
compels a representative of our government to appear at for- 
eign courts in the garb of an American citizen, while he has 
his residence in one of the most lordly houses in London, and 
makes it the vogue for a bridegroom to appear at his wedding 
with nothing but the color of his skin to distinguish him from 
the colored waiter, while he sets up a livery and hunts through 
Herald's college for a coat of arms to have painted on the 
door of his carriage. I am inclined to think that a false pride 
in the supposed possession of aristocratic blood has more to do 
with the formation of so-called patriotic societies than a true 
patriotic spirit. 

In speaking of dress let me begin with the young. In my 
school days I wore a blue jacket with brass buttons and a stiff 
linen collar buttoned to it on the inside, and turned over the 
collar of the jacket. I never wore an overcoat, or even owned 
one, and when I entered college, the first thing I did was to 
go to John Earle, the tailor, and get measured for a long tail 
broadcloth coat, and buy a camlet cloak. The frock coat was 
unknown, and the cloak was indispensable in attending prayers 
when hastily jumping out of bed I hurried to chapel often with 
nothing under it but a night gown and trousers and boots. 
During the summer months many boys went barefooted, not on 
account of poverty, but simply for economy. A writer in the 
Old Colony Memorial in 1837 misrepresented this custom in 
the statement that "old men had a great coat and a pair of 
boots, the boots generally lasting for life. Shoes and stock- 
ings were not worn by the young men, and by but few men in 
farming business, and young women in their ordinary work 
did not wear stockings and shoes." I suppose that during the 
school season there are fewer barefooted boys then formerly, 
but at other times I do not think that there has been any change 
as to footwear. As to overcoats I have known many persons 
who went without them from preference in the coldest weather. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 521 

Nathaniel Ing-ersoll Bowditch of Boston never wore one, and 
my old schoolmate, George Sampson, the late proprietor of the 
Boston directory, never did. I met the latter one afternoon in 
Boston v^rhen the thermometer was about zero, and I said, 
"George, T suspect that on such a day as this you wear a thick- 
er undershirt?" To my surprise he said that he iiad never 
worn an undershirt in his life. T propose in speaking- of dress 
to confine myself to those articles worn at various times which 
would strike the present generation as strange. About the 
year 1840, gentlemen's boots were two inches longer than the 
foot, and turned up like the dasher of a sleigh. At about the 
same time, or a little earlier, trousers skin tight, put on neces- 
sarily with the boots already in them, were worn, and then 
immediately after loose trousers with plaits. For many years 
after the revolution, and continuing into my own days, the 
woolen cloths, of which dresses were made, were often spun 
and woven at home. During the i8th century in the small 
towns and countn.^ districts, nearly every family made a coarse 
cloth called lindsy-woolsy, with the warp of linen and the woof 
of wool. It is a mistake to suppose that in the earliest colon- 
ial times spinning wheels were much used until fulling mills 
were built in the last half of the 17th century, and it is not 
probable that Priscilla Alden ever used one until she was forty 
years of age. The small wheels known as flax wheels were 
first brought to Boston by the Scotch Irish in the first quarter 
of the 18th century. Of all articles of dress there is none in 
my opinion which so unerringly stamps the lady as a neat, tidy 
footgear. I say it with fear and trembling, but hicre goes, 
there must also be a white stocking. The contour of the foot 
is destroyed by a shoe, especially one without a heel, and the 
outlines of the ankle and limb are lost on any other color than 
white. The hat comes next, not set on the head like a liberty 
cap on a pole, but one whether large or small, as much belong- 
ing to the figure as the lily to its stem. Then comes the glove, 
never white in the street, a well fitting dress, not necessarily of 
expensive material, and withall as few ornaments as possible, 
and you have so far as fiesh and blood are concerned, a fault- 
less woman. A eulogist of the late Susan B. Anthony, her- 
self a noble woman, said that she never was afraid to see her 
friend mount a table or platform to speak, because she knew 
that her boots and stockings were immaculate. 



522 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Ear-rings, concerning which I find many interesting items 
in the work of AHce Morse Earle on costumes, have come 
down to us from a period as early as the i6th century. They 
were, however, in their early days, worn by men more tlian 
by women, and in manv cases only in one ear. Charles the 
First, on going to execution, wore a pearl pear shaped ear-ring, 
about five-eighths of an inch long, which is now owned by the 
Duke of Portland ; and Shakespeare and Sir Walter Raleigh 
wore them. In my youth their use among women was almost 
universal, and I can recall many men who wore plain gold 
rings, and every young lady on leaving school had her ears 
bored as a matter of course. 

Among the bonnets at various times in fashion I shall refer 
alone to the poke bonnet because its etymology is a little con- 
fused. This bonnet had plaits around its crown and sides. 
One of the many definitions of the word poke given in the 
Century dictionary, which no library is complete without, is, 
"to poke plaits in a ruff," and I have no doubt that "poke bon- 
net" meant merely a bonnet with plaits poked in the ruff. I 
must omit the scarlet cloak with its black silk quilted hood, 
worn by elderly women in my youth, the busks worn in the 
corsets, made of whalebone, steel or wood, the bustles below the 
waist behind, the quilted mandarins for cold weather, the In- 
dia shawls now packed away in cedar closets awaiting their re- 
turn in the revolving wheel of fashion, turbans, lace caps, night 
caps, hoops and other female paraphernalia, forming a sea 
without a shore, and speak lastly of pattens, which in my early 
boyhood were giving place to the overshoe and rubbers. 

I remember a pair of pattens in an old closet where they 
had been consigned to an undeserved exile after many centur- 
ies of faithful service. The patten consisted of a wooden stock 
like the stock of a skate, with an oval iron ring attached to its 
under side, and with toe and heel pieces fastened by straps to 
the foot and ankle, its purpose being to protect the foot from 
mud and slush. It can be traced back to the 14th century, 
when it was called the galoe-shoe or galoshe. After its intro- 
duction into France, where it was called patin, the English ga- 
loshe became patten, but as if to revenge itself against the 
usurper, it has had a resurrection, and now lives in its legiti- 
mate successor, the galoshe of the present day. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



523 



I shall devote a portion of this chapter to a mention of those 
words andphrases which havemade their appearance at various 
times, and have become incorporated for a longer or shorter 
time in the lang-ua-e of our people. Only a few of these are 
peculiar to Plymouth. Some have come down to us from 
our English ancestors, some owe their origin to the different 
languages of continental Europe, some are slang, which have 
found their way through unknown channels into the speech of 
men, and a few through ignorance of orthography have found 
a place in colloquial use. My reference to these must be re- 
stricted by necessarily limited space. 

Some of my readers may be surprised at the number of words 
and names which have come to us from foreign tongues, and 
have made themselves as much at home as if thev were to the 
manor bom. We have the word wharf from the Swedish 
hworf, and the word dock from the Gothic dok, lane from the 
Dutch laan, alley from the French allee, derived from the verb 
aller, to go. The verb tedder meaning to ted or spread hay 
was introduced by the Irish when they began to work on our 
farms. Fishermen in Gloucester, Provincetown and Plym- 
outh and other places, after dr>'ing codfish on flakes, yaffle 
them up and carrs^ them into the fish house. The word yaffle 
is old English, and means an armful and the word stadle is 
the Scotch stathel, and means the stakes driven into a salt 
meadow, on which salt hay is to be piled. Scuttle comes 
from the French escoutelle, and the word kench, which means 
the bin in which salt codfish are piled, is old English. The 
word kid not only stands for an animal, but is also the name 
of the square bin on the deck of a fishing vessel by the side 
of each fisherman, in which he throws his fish. Sailors got in- 
to the way of calling any box without a cover a kid. I re- 
member a story told bv my mother when I was a boy of her 
going to church and finding a strange man in her pew, who 
jumped over the rail into the next pew, saying, I beg your 
pardon, Madam, I got into the wrong kid. The word cover- 
lid, often called coverlet, is French derived from the French 
word couvrelit, cover bed. The word sass applied to vege- 
tables, and also meaning impudence, is not as many suppose, 
a Yankee slang word, but has an English origin, and is still 
used in the county of Essex, in England. The word cabbage. 



524 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

as applied to the vegetable, came from Holland, and was in- 
troduced into England by Sir Anthony Ashley. He was ac- 
cused of securing- much loot, while holding- a command in 
Spain, and he was so closely associated with the vegetable in 
the public mind, that on his monument at Wimbourne the 
head of a cabbage was sculptured, and in consequence of his 
looting the word became applied to looting in general, and 
finally to the odds and ends saved by tailors in their trade. 
The word arter, for after, came down to us from England, and 
if I remember right, was used by Governor Bradford in his 
history. The word fetch is an old Saxon word, used by Bacon, 
Shakespeare and many other old writers, and is worthy of 
respect, and continued use, though at present excluded from 
elegant speech. The word fetching expressing attractive- 
ness in beauty or dress is a comparatively recent half slang 
Innovation. The origin of the word contraptions, meaning 
new notions, I do not know, but I have heard it 
many times in my day. Arey or airey came from England, 
where it was sometimes called arrow or narrow. Hearth in 
two syllables, with emphasis on the e is a word I have never 
heard out of Plymouth. As long as I can remember it has 
been used by the deer hunters in Plymouth woods. Once 
Branch Pierce, the famous hunter, put Daniel Webster on a 
stand, and later in the day called out to him that the dogs had 
been out of hearth an hour, and that the hunt was up. The 
word dike as applied to a sloping grassy bank or terrace, is 
universal in Plymouth, and as far as I know, never used in 
that sense anywhere except in Plymouth, and its vicinity. 
Crojeck or crotchet, is a common corruption of cross jack in 
Plymouth and elsewhere as applied to the lower yard on the 
mizzen mast of a ship. Chimley for chimney, has been com- 
mon :n Scotland, and may be found in Scott's Rob Roy. In 
the United States it is usually spelled chimbley, but it is rarely 
heard in Plymouth. 

James Russell Lowell has these lines : 

"Ag'in the chimbley crooknecks hung, 
An' in amongs 'em, rusted, 
The ole queen's arm that granther Young 
Fetched back from Concord, busted." 

Sun-up for sunrise, 1 do not remember to have heard in 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



525 



Plymouth more than once, but I have heard it often in other 
Plymouth county towns. As the opposite of sun-down, which 
is English, it seems as correct as sunset or sunrise, and may 
be properly used. Bile is often used for boil, and has been 
thought by some of the best writers to be more correct. It is, 
however, going out of use. Brewis is an English word mean- 
ing bread covered with broth, but when introduced into New 
England, it was applied to rye and Indian crusts boiled with 
milk and butter. 

The word sleigh comes from the Dutch sluy; squash came 
down from the aborigines, by whom it was called estata, or 
vine apple; carrots came from Holland, and some growing 
wild bore a flower which the English called Queen Anne's lace. 
The cochroach was the Dutch kackenlack; potatoes, which 
have been said to have been introduced by the Irish, were raised 
by the Dutch in New York as early as 1654, and were called 
pataddes. It is not unlikely that as they were called Irish po- 
tatoes, the slang word paddies applied to the Irish, came from 
pataddes. 

The word "certain" a few years ago came into use in answer 
to certain questions as for instance — are you going to Bos- 
ton tomorrow? "Certain ;" but it seems to have given place to 
the word "sure." For a time, "you bet," was used in the same 
way, as for instance to the statement, "that was a good dinner," 
the answer was, "you bet." Chores probably comes from the 
old English "char," as does also the word "charwomen." The 
word cow pronounced kyou, has been said to be peculiar to 
New England country towns, but there can be no greater mis- 
take, for I have heard it so pronounced by natives of South 
Carolina, and it is so pronounced to-day in the shires of Essex 
and Sussex, in England. Foment or fornenst was originally a 
Scotch word meaning opposite to, as for instance his liouse 
was foment the church. It was carried to Ireland, and by the 
Irish introduced here. I heard it for the first time about 1854. 
"Gab," now common, was used by Chaucer as wc use it. The 
English laugh at the word "guess," and call it a vulgar Ameri- 
canism, but it was used by Locke, Milton and Qiaucer. 

"Ker yellow hair was braided in a tress, 

Behind her back a yard long I guess." 
"Poke" in one of its many meanings is a pocket or bag, as in 
the words, to buy a pig in a poke, that is witliout seeing it. 



526 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

"Streak it," to run fast, was heard by me for the first time when 
hunting in the Plymouth woods. Branch Pierce, the hunter, 
after placing his party on their stands would take his son Tom 
and take short cuts through the woods to head off the deer. 
When a good chance occurred the old man could be heard 
calling out. Streak it. Tommy. There was another Thomas 
Pierce living in the neighborhood, so in order to distinguish 
them one was called Squire Tom, and the other Streak it Tom- 
my. I have never heard the word "seen" in the sense of saw 
in Plymouth, but I have heard it frequently in Boston among 
Englishmen and immigrants from the Dominion. Muckrakes 
is a word recently rescued from oblivion, but with a wrong 
imderstanding of its meaning. According to Professor De- 
Vere, now or late Professor of modern languages in the Uni- 
versity of Virginia, and author of "Studies in English" muck- 
rakes are those who rake for the purpose of finding something 
valuable and worthy of preservation. Rag pickers are in one 
sense muckrakes. There are two offensive words which have 
recently found a lodgement in our vocabulary, chiefly, how- 
ever, among inexperienced writers. One of these words, "one," 
taken out of its legitimate meaning, seems to be due either to a 
lack of taste or to a mistaken notion that it is elegant. The fol- 
lowing sentence explains what I mean. "When one writes a 
letter one must be careful how one expresses oneself, lest one 
finds that one makes a mistake in using too many ones." The 
other is the word "gotten," which to me always suggests a writ- 
er who fancies himself an accurate scholar, and would call aisle 
of a church "oil," and one of its pillars, a "pillow." There are 
two other words not offensive, but objectionable, which I find 
constantly in new novels, "peering," for looking, and "per- 
turbed" for disturbed, or agitated, or "annoyed." As for in- 
stance "in peering out of the window I was perturbed by an 
unusual sight." 

The use of exaggerations and superlatives is every day be- 
coming more common. Newspaper reporters and associated 
press men are responsible for many of these. With them it 
never rains, but it pours, every snow spit is a blizzard, every 
fresh breeze a gale, every gale a hurricane, every wave is 
mountain high, every collision is a crash, and everv crowd a 
surging mob. New newspaper words are constantly creeping 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 527 

into our vocabulary. Among: tlie most recent arc "defi" for 
"defiance," and "confer" for "conference." There is another 
class of words and phrases having- their origin in athletics and 
games of various kinds, which are constantly found in the 
newspapers, and even in congressional and other speeches. 
"Stand pat," "win out," "flush," and "full deck" are 
some of those which are unworthy of the press or 
the speech of a legislator. There is still another class quite 
frequently used which are really nothing but veiled oaths with 
the spirit if not the letter of profanity behind them. Among 
them are by- jingo, land-sakes, by-George, by-gum, by-thunder, 
good-gracious, dern it, thunder and Mars, heavens and earth, 
all fired for hell fired, gol darn it, darnation, Lord-a-mussy. 
mercy sakes alive, great Scott, by the eternal, and lastly, tarna- 
tion, as in the lines of John Noakes and May Styles : 

"Poor honest John 'tis plain he knows 
But little of life's range. 
Or he'd a know'd gals oft at fust 
Have ways tarnation strange." 

In the above selections of words and phrases I have of course 
omitted a large number, the origin and etomology of which it 
would be interesting to trace. T must, however, in order to fin- 
ish my tnemories in this chapter, proceed to the record of 
streets laid out since 1825, as proposed in the beginning of 
the chapter. 

LeBaron alley, leading from Leyden street to Middle street, 
was laid out out as a townway Sept. 7 and 10, 1832. 

The way around Cole's Hill from Leyden street was laid 
out Nov. 2"], 1827, and May 14, 1829. 

Pleasant street was laid out and altered at various times, 
June 5, 1820, May 12. 1825. Nov. 5, 1845, March 25. 1867, 
and Januar}- 4, 1887. 

Russell street was laid out April 20, 1833. 

Union street was laid out August 4, 1841, and Nov. 5. 1865. 

Samoset street was laid out from Court street to the South 
Meadow Road, Dec. 8, 1854- 

Cedarville Road was laid out Nov. 15, 1855. 

The Manomet House Road was laid out September 2},. 1851. 

The way from Harvey Bartlett's to the Pine HilN was laid 

out July 13, 1848. 

Warren Avenue was laid out Nov. 5, 1849. aJ^^l August, i85<^. 



528 PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Robinson street was laid out April 6, 1859 and September 
ID, 1859. 

Road from Chiltonville to the Manomet Road was laid out 
July 9, 1851, and April 9, 1866. 

Cushman street was laid out Oct. 4, 1856. 

Allerton street in part was laid out Oct. 4, 1856. 

Allerton street in part was laid out March 26, 1877. 

Chilton street was laid out April 3, 1882. 

Cedar Village Road was laid out January 4, 1876. 

Bradford street was laid out Sept. 10, 1859. 

Cliff street was laid out March 20, 1876. 

Oak street was laid out March 9, 1874, and March i, 1875. 

Davis street was laid out January 3, 1882. 

Federal Road was laid out January 5, 1869. 

Franklin street was laid out April 6, 1857, and July 6, 1865. 

Fremont street was laid out Sept. 10, 1859. 

Fremont street was extended June 22, 1895. 

North Green street was laid out Oct. 4, 1856. 

High street was widened June 24, 1870. 

Corner of Court and North streets was laid out in 1892. 

Main street was widened Aug. 3, 1886. 

Jetferson street was laid out June 25, 1870. 

Lothrop Place, laid out September 10, 1859, ^"^ Oct. 14, 
1872. 

Rocky Hill Road was laid out January 6, 1874. 

Court Square, south side, laid out April 6, 1857. 

South Russell street was laid out January 7, 1868. 

Sagamore street was laid out June 25. 1870. 

Street from Court street at Seaside to the railroad, was laid 
out January 6, 1874. 

Sandy Gutter street laid out Oct. 21, 1871, 

Stafford street laid out June 17, 1882. 

Road from Manomet to Sandwich, January 2, 1872. 

Road from Manomet to Fresh Pond, January 6, 1874. 

Manomet Road, south of the bridge, February 7, 1857. 

Manomet Road at the dam, January i, 1884. 

Market street, widened from the bake house, south, Decem- 
ber 31, 1873. 

Market street, widened at the corner of Ley den street, No- 
vember 5, 1883. 

Market street, widened at Spring Hill, January i, 1890. 



OF AS OCTOGEXARIAN. 529 

Massasoit street, laid out June 25, 1870. 

Mayflower street, laid out April 6, 1857, and Sept. 10, 1859. 

Mt. Pleasant street, laid out April 6, 1857. 

Water street, extended April 4, 1881, Dec. 9, 1893, and June 
22, 1895. 

Thomas alley, discontinued March 28, 1885. 

Waverly street, laid out October 4, 1856. 

White Horse Road, laid out March 5, 1883. 

Whiting street, laid out March 28, 1885. 

Willard Place, laid out March 2, 1863. 

Winslovv street (Ocean Place), laid out April 3, 1882. 

Spooner street at Seaside, laid out March 6, 1893. 

Standish Avenue, laid out April 14, 1896, and March 6, 1899. 

Vallerv'ille road, laid out January 3, 1893, and March 19, 
1901. 

Washington street, laid out July 6. 1865. 

Forest avenue, laid out February 20, 1904. 

Billington street, laid out August 12, 1902. 

Pump station Road, laid out August 12, 1902. 

Road from Russell Mills to Long Pond Road, was laid 
out ]\Iarch 14, 1898. 

Sever street was laid out January 26, 1901. 

South Park Avenue, laid out January 26, 1901. 

Clyfton street was laid out September 27, 1890. 

Carver street was laid out March 28, 1854, February 12, 
1884, and February 10, 1885. 

Centre Hill Pond road was laid out August 6, 1895. 

Cherry street was laid out March 6, 1899. 

Alden street was laid out March 9, 1891, and April 6, 1891. 

Atlantic street was laid out April 6, 1891. 

Bartlett street was laid out March 13, 1886. 

Brewster street was laid out December i, 1884. 

N. Wood & Co. Factory road at Chiltonville was laid out 
April 9, 1866. 

Darby station entrance was laid out March 6, 1893. 

Hall town road was laid out December 9, 1893. 

Hamilton street was laid out June 5, 1897. 

Highland Place was laid out April 2, 1888. 

Howes Lane was laid out March 9, 1891, and March 7, 1892. 

Leyden and Water street corner was widened March 9, 1891. 



S30 TLYMOUTH MEMORIES 

Lincoln street was laid out March 9, 1891. 

Murray street was laid out March 5, 1883, and March 3, 
1902. 

Bay View avenue was laid out March 3, 1902. 

Road from Manomet to V^allerville was laid out March 19, 
1901. 

Nelson street was laid out January 6, 1896. 

Newfields street was laid out July i, 1890, February 23, 1901. 

Middle street was widened March 6, 1899. 

Towns street was laid out February 10, 1906. 

Main street was widened at the corner of Town Square, 
March 12, 1906. 

Russell street was widened from Court street to the Regis- 
try, December i, 1905. 

Town Square was widened at comer of Main street, Novem- 
ber I, 1905. 

Here, my readers, these memories must close. Any pleas- 
ure which you may have received in reading them has been 
more than equalled by my own in writing them. They present 
a meagre record of the memories of a long life whose begin- 
ning and end are mysteries. 

Helpless I lay upon the shore 

Of a world unknown to me; 

How, I wonder, came I o'er 

The dark mysterious sea. 

Tell me, oh tell me, whence I came; 

Is there another shore? 

This sun, these skies, are they the same 

That I have seen before? 

Now, life's journey nearly o'er, 

The land beyond the sea. 

As when I lay upon the shore, 

Is still unknown to me. 

Another shore before me lies, 

Bounding another sea ; 

May I there find the sun and skies 

Before unknown to me. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



Errata and Addenda 



531 



On page 26, 3rd line, '^Contry" should be "country." 
On page 28, 7th line, celebration of 1794 was private. 
On page 41 "Hollinguer" should be "Hottinger." 
On page 109, nth line, "to" should be "so." 
On page 233, 17th line, "Davee" should be "Davie." 
On page 238, 17th line, "Longwood" should be "La Grange." 
On page 319, 17th line, "Wooster" should be "Worcester." 
On page 330, 25th line, "Nathan" should be "Nathaniel." 
On page 399, loth line from bottom, "Tuesdav" should be 
"Monday." 

To the blacksmiths on page 52. are to be added Nathan Del- 
ano and Moses Nichols. Mr. Delano lived on Middle street, 
and had his shop in the brick basement of the house, which 
once stood on Cole's Hill, with its rear on the way leading 
from Middle street to Water street. 

Mr. Nichols came to Plymouth from Freetown, and building 
a shop in Chiltonville on the southwest corner of the Russell 
Mills road, worked on a vessel building on Eel River, a little 
below the Hayden factory. He later built a shop where the 
George Fuller shop now stands, and lived in the house in Wel- 
lingsley, lately occupied by John Bartlett. Still later he built 
a shop in what is now called Dublin, and built and occupied 
the house on the upper comer of Summer and Edes streets, 
where he died about 1809. After his death, his son Otis 
Nichols, bom in the Bartlett house, occupied the Summer 
street house until he moved to Manomet, and established the 
farm now owned and occupied by his son Otis. 

Among the whaling vessels mentioned on page 64. was the 
schooner Mercury, She sailed Nov. 12, 1842, and on the 2d 
of May. 1843, capsized in a gale, and Wm. H. Godfrev, Henry 
Missard. George L. Jones, Wm. Pierce and Wm. Hatch were 
lost. The remainder of the crew, consisting of John Winslow 
of Provincetown. Thomas D. Bames, Lemuel Hall, Wm. H. 
Carver, Richard Pierce and Isaac Cole of Plymouth, and Rob- 
ert Gardner and Georee Williams were taken off. When 
the vessel capsized Richard Pierce was in the cabin, and was 
taken out with a broken leg through a hole cut in the deck. 
I remember him well a cripple through life. 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



533 



INDEX 



Adams, George, 

Adams, George, family, 

Adams, Thomas, 

Adams, John Quincy, 

Adams and Liberty, 

Adulterations, 

Alderman and Gooding, 

Alexander, Wm. B., 

Allen & S. D. Ballard, 

Alleys, 

Allyne, Joseph, 

Allyne house, 

Anasthesia, 

Ancient legend, 

Ancient papers, 

Andrew, John A., 

Annapolis, 

Antietam, 

Anti-masons, 

Anti-slavery, 

Anti-slavery rooms. 

Anti-slavery Society, 

Apples, 

Appointments to office. 

Aqueduct, 

Aqueduct water, 

Arctic (steamship), 

Armories, 

Articles of food. 

Artillery Company, 

Ashore on Hog Island, 

At wood, Anthony, 

Atwood, Wm. 

Author's house. 

Author's trip to Washington, 

Avery, Joseph, 

Bachelder, John, 

Back bay land. 

Baked beans. 

Balm of Gilead, 

Bananas, 

Bancroft. Elizabeth, 

Bank robbery. 

Banks, 

Baptist Church, 

Barbers, 

Barbers' pole, 

Barbers' shops. 

Bark Charles Bartlett 

Bark Espindola, 

Bark Fortune, 

Bark Griffin, 



148 

149 
148 
294 
475 
487 
152 
408 

195 
441 

113 
112 
274 
270 
262 
389 
393 
410 
263 
241 
180 
332 
486, 493 
407 



182 
114 
285 
453 
485 
453 
398 
32 
54 
281 
398 
181 
312 
444 
19 
511 
509 
133 
232 
404 
124, 127 

S16 
149 
96 
41 
61 
40 



Bark Truman, 

Bark Iconium, 

Bark Mary and Martha, 

Bark Triton, 

Barks in Plymouth, 

Barnes, John C, 

Barnes, Levi, 

Barnes, Southworth, 

Barnes' wharf, 

Baron of beef, 

Barrett, John, 

Barrett, Wm., 

Barron, James, 

Bartlett, Andrew, 

Bartlett, Elkanah, 

Bartlett, Isaac, 

Bartlett, James, 22, 32, 

Bartlett, James, 22, 32, 65, 

Bartlett, James, Jr., 

Bartlett, John, 155, 

Bartlett, Joseph, 

Bartlett, Robert, 

Bartlett, Truman family, 

Bartlett, Wm., loi, 

Bartlett, Wm. S., 

Bartlett, Zacheus family, 

Bates, Clement. 

Bates, John Blaney, 

Bates, Ozen, 

Baths, 

Battle of Fredericksburg. 

Baxter, Geo. L.. 

Beards, 

Bedsteads, 

Beech tree. 

Bees of various kinds. 

Bell ringing, 

Bells. 

Bennett, John C. 

Big Bethel, 

Billings, Hammatt, 

Binding twine, 

Birch, 

Birth place of author. 

Bishop Chcverus. 

Bishop, Wm.. 

Bi<=hop, Eastbum, 

Blacksmiths, 

Black walnut. 

Black and White Club, 

Blaeden, Gonrcc W., 

Blair, Frank P.. Jr., 

Bliss, Alexander, 



18, 



40 
42 
63 
63 
44 
57 
34 
179 

34 

364 

62 

62 

405 

296 

33 

140 

121 116, 

116, 121 

60, 64 

199, 200 

199 

140, 342 

2')5 

197. 199 

148 

181 

143. 260 

16 

62 

487 

416 

344 
SIS 
514 

5T2 
480 
448 

339 
312 
401 

27 
240 
ST3 
2.S1 
433 
178 
451 

52 
47 1 
1R7 
361 

375 
134 



16, 



534 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



Bliss, Leonard, 


341 


Blockmakers, 


52 


Boat harbor, 


no 


Bonnets, 


522 


Bootblacks, 


449 


Boots, 


144, 521 


Boston, 


440, 454 


Boston bridges, 


443 


Boston common, 


510 


Boston harbor, 


463 


Boston marine, 


462 


Boston Neck, 


443 


Boston shipping, 


464 


Boston ships. 


462 


Boston streets. 


442 


Boston theatres, 


455 


Boston wharves. 


462 


Bouncing betts, 


282 


Boutelle, Ann, 


172 


Bowling, 


206 


Boys' dress, 


520 


Boys' Military Company, 


152 


Bradford, George P., 


147 


Bradford, Jo'-.n H., 


T24 


Bradford, Le.riuel, 


234 


Bradford's tavern, 


124 


Bramhall, Charles, 


35 


Err.mhall, Wm. 


35 


Breckinridge, W. C. P., 


383 


Brewer, Francis B., 


3" 


Brewster, Elder, 


325 


Brewster, Isaac, 


32 


Brewster, Wm. W., 


65 


Brig Emerald, 


297 


Brig George Little, 


224 


Brig Hannah, 


140 


Brig Hope, 


82 


Brig James Monroe, 


64 


Brig John R. Rhodes, 


222 


Brig Regulator, 


220 


Brig Sally Ann, 


2ig 


Brig Yeoman, 


63 


Brigs in Plymouth, 


44 


Briggs, George W., 


318 


Brigham, Antipas, 


139 


Brigham, Peter B. 


457 


Brighton, Artillery, 


460 


Brook farm, 


307 


Brown, Joseph P., 


299 


Brown, Lemuel, 


299 


Brown, Wm., 


145 


Bryant, Danville, 


13, 15S 


Bryant's tavern, 


13 


Buckingham, Jos. T.. 


465 


Buckingham, Wm. A., 


374 


Buggies, 


206, 437 


Bunch of Grapes, 


181 


Burglar alarms. 


231 


Burgoyne, General, 


122 


Burial Hill, 


324 


Burlingame, Anson, 


374 



Burton, Charles, 344 

Busks, 160 

Butler, B. F., 399 

Button pears, 186 

Buttonwood, 511 

Cabbage, 524 

Cabs, _ 437 

California emigration, 102 

Call to arms, 390 

Calls for men, 417 

Cambria ashore, 463 

Camp Hospitals, 412 

Canal trip, 467 

Candles, 481 

Canopy, 27 

Capen, Robert, 310 

Captains, 50 

Carlyle, Thomas, I35 

Carriage fares, 440 

Carriages, 436 

Carriole, 437 

Carver's wharf, 33 

Casco yacht, 108 

Catholic church, 433 
Celebration, 1820, 357, 359 

Celebration of 1824, 360 

Celebration, July 4, 1825, 385 

Celebration, July 4, 1826, 385 

Celebration, July 4, 1828, 385 

Celebration of 1829, 361 

Celebration of 1835, 362 

Celebration of 1841, 363 

Celebration of 1845, 364 

Celebration of 1853, 365 

Celebration, 1855, 37° 

Celebration, iS.sg, 372 
Celebration, July 9, 1865, 385, 386 

Celebration, 1870, 375 

Celebration of 1880, 380 

Celebration of 1885, 380 

Celebration, 1889, 380 

Celebration, 1895, 384 

Celebrations, 356 

Central House, _ 195 

Centre of population, 234 
Chaise, 206, 437 

Chaise house, 206 

Chandler, Joseph R., 363 

Change of Shire, 308 
Channel, ^^, 74 

Charles River. 444 

Chase, Salmon P. 374 

Chess player, 457 

Chewing. 5^7 

Choate, Rufus. 441 

Choir of church, 1 18 

Chowder, 18 

Christmas, 4QI 

Churchill. Charles O., 284 

Churchill, George, 144 
Churchill. John, 27, 185 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



53S 



Churchill, John D., 33 

Churchill, Lemuel B., 34 

Churchill, Otis, 32 

Churchill, Solomon, 151 

Churchill, Wm., 31 

Church street. (£ 

Cigars, 519 

Circus, 157 

Civil War, 389 

Clark, Joseph S., 315 

Cloak, 520 

Coach, 438 

Coal barges, 463 

Cobb, Howell, 396 

Cobb, Isaac Eames, 298 
Codfish, 18, 486 

Cod fishery, 86 

Coffee, 486 

Cold Spring, 12 

Cole, James, 121 
Cole's Hill, 16, 31, 112, 320 

College education, 345 

College professors, 345 

College punishments, 347 

Collier, Ezra, 148 

Collingwood family, 22 
Collingwood, Joseph W., 407, 415 

Collingwood, George, 62 

Collins, James, 38 

Columbia steamer, 22 

Common house, 322 

Concert Hall, 452 
Condition of Gov. Finances, 396 
Conflagration of Moscow, 457 

Confederate plan, 397 
Constables, 7, 447 
Contribution of Plymouth 

Bank, 391 

Cooking, 485 

Coopers, 57 

Cooper's Alley, 6^ 

Cooper, James, 65 

Cornerstone of canopy, 372 
Cornerstone of Monument. 372 
Cotton, Charles, 30, 258 

Cotton house, 258 

Cotton, John. 1 17 

Cotton, Rossiter, 258 

Cotton. Rowland Edwin, 259 

Countings out, 207 

Country teams, 4S8 

Country trade. 4.';8 

Court Square, 199 

Court street, 10 
Covington, Jacob. 14. ^~ 

Covington. Jacob family. 264 

Cows, ^$ 

Cox. Tames, 30"? 

Cox. Wm. R.. .303 

Cranberry. S09 

Crocker and Warren, 171 



Cults, 

Cunard line. 

Curfew, 

Currency, 

Currier, John, Jr., 

Gushing, Joshua, 

Gushing school, 

Cushman, Charlotte, 

Cushman, Joseph, 

Cushman, Susan, 

Custom House, 

Customs, 

Daisies, 

Damsons, 

Dancing schools. 

Danforth. Allen, 

Davie, Ezra J., 

Davie, Johnson, 

Davis Building, 

Davis, John, 

Davis, John R., 

Davis house, 

Davis, Nathaniel M., 

Davis wharf, 

Davis, ^^'m., 33, 

Davis, Wm. family, 

Davis & Russell. 

Dawes. James H., 

Debating Societies, 

Decatur. Stephen, 

Dcrmer. Thomas, 

Dewey. T,aurn. 

Diaz, Abigail, 

Dipping, 

Division of the town, 

Doten, Charles C, 

Doten, Samuel. 80, 222, 

Doten, Samuel TT., 

Double trucks. 

Draft, 

Dress coat. 

Dress of a ladv. 

Drew, Atwood L.. 

Drew, Beninmin, 

Drew, Cliarles H.. 

Drew, Dpvid. 

Drew, Deborah. 

Drew, Fbenezer. 

^rcw, Edwprd Bangs, 

Drew, Georrf". 

Drew, ATnlarhi. 

Drew, Thomas, 

Drew. Wm. R., 

Dnirv T.ane theatre, 

rtnel. 

Dnke of Camhridp'e, 

Duke of Wellington, 

Dnnfish, 

Dunham. Rr^Tt. 

Diixhurv shin building. 

Dvcr. Gustaviis G., 



492 
462 
4j8 
189 
48 
216 
133 
197 
151 
108 
136 
447 
472 
Sio 
160 
167, 1 68 
233 
2.1^ 
i&S 
28 
193 

131. 1.36 

136 

33, 52 

313. 3T4 
131 
153 
219 

331 

40.'; 

6 

S3 
307 
.SI7 
30R 
408 
224, 227 
305 
46"; 
4t6 
520 

S2I 

34 

230. 20 T 
408. 410 

2T 
2T 

203 

T37. 2.10 

2T 

230. 3i3 

T46 

T3I 

4O!; 

13=; 

TO 

17, T20 

47 



536 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



Ear rings, 522 

Earthquake, 11 

East Boston, 446 

East Boston ship building, 48 

Edes, Oliver, 174, 282 

Education, 307 

Eighteenth Regiment, 407, 422 

Eldridge, John, 41 

Election Day, 32 

Ellis, Bartlett, 156, 185 

Ellis, Nathaniel, 352 

Elm trees, 512 

Embargo, 49, 79 

Embargo, avoidance of 81 

Emergency fund, 391 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 25 

Engine House, 162 

English trees, 512 

Enlistment, 406 

Entertainments, 330 

Episcopacy, 491 

Escape from quarantine, 260 

Europa steamer, g6 

Evarts, Wm. M., 313, 374 

Everett, Edward, 360. 364 

Express, 68 

Expresses, 155 

Family names, 302 

Family traits, 57 

Farms, 436 

Farris, Jeremiah, 174 

Fashions in dress, 519 

Faunce, Daniel W., 319 

Faunce, John, 402 

Faunce, Wm., 318 

Fernside. 14 

Fifth Massachusetts, 403 

Finney, Ezra, 295 

Finney, Ezra family, 295; 

Fire Deparment, 477, 478 
Fire Department Celebration, 381 

Fire Engines, 474, 476 

Fire engine steam, 478 

Fire pans, 483 

Fire place, 484 

Fire in School Street, 138 

Fire Insurance, 475 

Fires, 473, 492 

Fires in Plymouth, 475 

First coal grate, 282 

First Meeting House, 322 

Fish, 514 

Fish duties, 88 

Fishing, 436 

Fishing bounty, 87 

Fishing ledges, 18 

Fisihing vessels, 88, 95 

Fishing vessels lost, 91 

Flagg stones, 441 

Flowers, 508 

Floyd, John B.. 396 



Football, 
Foot stoves, 
Foreign trade. 
Forests, 
Fornenst, 



^5 
483 

49 
471 

525 



Fortress Monroe, 396, 398, 399 

Fort Andrew, 414, 417 

Fort Hill, 442 

Fort McH'enry, 404 

Fort Standish, 417 
Forts in Plymouth harbor. 414 

Forster, Wm. E., 236 

Fox, Gustavus V., 406 

Fragrnent Society, 334 

Francis, Ebenezer, 163 

Franklin street, 441 

Frederick, 411 

Freeman, Frederick, 14, 265 
Freeman, Frederick family, 266 

Frigate Constitution, 393 

Frost, Daniel, 36 

Fruits, 50S 

Fuel, 482 

Fuller, Hiram, 146, 369 

Fuller house, 116 

Fuller, Josiah C, 408 

Funeral customs, 479 

Funerals, 479 

Gab, 525 

Gages, 510 

Galoshe, 522 

Gaiters, 161 

Gale, Daniel, 150, 180 

Gale's cabbage, 180 

Games, 204 

Gaylord, John Flavel, 312 

Germans, 435 

Gilbert, Gustavus, 164 

Gingko tree, 442 

Girard college, 55 

Girard, Stephen, 55 

Glass, Mr., 14 

Gleason, James G., I57 

Gloves of ministers, 118 

Goddard, Daniel, 27, 54 

Goddard, Daniel F., 319 

Goddard, Grace H. 166 

Goddard. John, 166 

Gold discovery, 102 

Gooding family, 183 

Gooding, John, 183 

Gooding, John family, 183 

Goodwin, Ezra S., 317 

Goodwin, Hersey B., 317 

Goodwin, Isaac, 315 
Goodwin, Nathaniel, 121. 122, 257 
Goodwin, Nathaniel, family, 2=^7 

Goodwin, Timothy. 188 

Goodwin, Wm., 256 

Gordon, Solomon J., 269 

Gordon, Timothy, 269 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



537 



Gorges, 7 

Government treasury, 396 

Grand Banks, 95 

Gravestones, 324 

Grave yards, 320 

Great western steamship, 465 

Greenwrood, Wm. Pitt, 182 

Grog time, 448 

Guests, 1820, 358 

Gurnard, 514 

Guzzle, 74 

Habits and Customs, 433 

Hacks, 437 

Hale, John P., 369 

Hall, John, 18 
Hall, Robert B, 246, 363 

Hall, Samuel, 216 

Hannah, vessel, 81 

Hanover street, 12 

Harlow, Bradford, 302 

Harlow, David, family, 404 

Harlow, Ephraim, family, 303 

Harlow family, 302 

Harlow, George, family, 404 

Harlow, Jesse, 404 

Harlow, Nathaniel E., 33 

Harper's Ferry, 413 

Harriet Lane, 402 

Harrison, Peter, 203 
Hart, Jason, 154, 239 

Hathaway, B. A., 15 
Hathaway. Benj.. 17, 174, 176 

Hayward, Beza, 115 
Hayward House, 162, 164 

Hayward. Jedediah K., 315 

Hayward, John S., 154 

Hayward. Nathan, 163 

Hearses, 480 

Heating, 483 

Hedge, Barnabas, 119 

Hedge House, 119 

Hedge, Isaac L., 113 
Hedge, I. L. & T.. .32, 60 

Hedge, Nathaniel L., 62 
Hedge's wharf, 31, 74 

Herring stor>', 300 

Hibernia steamer, 22 

Hicks, Robert. 113 

High duties. 30 
Tlieh School, 338, 34° 

Hieh street, I45 

Highways. 10 

Hillard, George S.. 379 

Hobart, John Sloss, I93 

Hobart, Noah, 192 
Hodge, James Thacher, family. 

280, 281 

Hodgkins. Jos. W., i?4 

Hogreeves, 187 

Hogs, 187 

HoUis. Abigail. 12S 



Holmes, Amasa, 459 

Holmes, Charles T., 145 

Holmes, Doctor, 26 

Holmes, Edward, 219 
Holmes, John Calderwood, 144 
Holmes, Joseph, 40, 216, 218 

Holmes, Lewis, 318 

Holmes, Peter, 235 
Holmes, Richard, 27, 32 

Holmes, Richard W., 32 

Holmes, Sylvester, 318 

Holmes, Wm., family, 114 

Holmes and Scudder, 27 

Holmes and Brewster, 27 

Home, 482 

Home customs, 481 

Home Guard, 395 

Hornbeam, 511 

Horse hire, 206 

Horse races, 347 

Horse thieves, 332 

Hospitals, 413 

Hotels, 458 

Hotel prices, 460 

Howard, Oliver O., 378 

Howland, Henry, 14 

Howland street, 12 
Hubbard, Benjamin, 153, 312 

Hubbard. Levi, 180 

Hunt, James L., 311 

Hunt, Thomas Sterry, 378 

Husking. 489 

Hymns, 499 

Immigrants, 434 

Irish, 433 

Irish famine, 134 

India rubber shoes, 156 

Indian burial ground, 321 

Indian games, 207 

Inscriptions, 325 

Inspection, 45© 

Iron and coal duties, 299 

Jackson. Abraham, 343 

Jackson, Alexander, 187 
Jackson, Alexander, family, 267 

Jackson, Andrew, 294 

Tnckson apples, 186 

Jackson brothers, 36 

Jackson, Charles, 25 

Jackson, Charles, family, 273 
Jackson, Daniel. 36. 267 

Jackson, Daniel L., 41 

Jackson, D. and A., 37 

Jackson, Henr>'. 52 

Jackson. Henry F., 5* 

Jackson, Isaac C. 3^ 

Jackson, Isaac M., 15 

Jackson, Louisa S., .S4 

Jackson, Mercy B., 3'" 
Jackson, Salisbury, 120, I73 

Jackson, Thomas, 185 



538 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



Jackson vessels, 38 

Jackson, Wm., 185 

Jackson, Wm., family, 186 

Jenkins, Osmore, 144 

Jews rafts, 48 

Jones, Joseph D., 141 

Judson, Abigail B., 305 
Judson, Adoniram, family, 305 

June eatings, 186 

Kendall, James, 117 

Kendall, James A., 317 

Kent, Edward, 374 

King street, 13 

Kingston captains, 219 

Kissing bridge, 11 

Kitchen, 484 

Know Nothings, 54 

Kossuth celebration, 386 

Lafayette steamboat, 75 

LaGrange, 276 

Lamps, 482 

Lap tea, 330 

Lawrence, Abbott, 23 
LeBaron's alley, 65, 112, 116 

LeBaron, Francis, 124 

LeBaron, Isaac, 172, 311 

LeBaron, Lazarus, Ii6, 124 

Lectures, 331 

Legal votes, 355 

Leo, privateer, 224 

Leonard, James E., 137 

Letters, 190 

Letter writing, 190 

Letters of marque, 223 

Leyden Hall, 151 

Leyden street, no 
Light Guard of New York, 119 

Lightning struck, 55 

Linden tree, 15, 513 

Lindsy-woolsy, 521 

Livery, 437 

Lobsters, 75 

Locomotives. 464 

Long, John D., 380, 382 

Long, Thomas, 17 

Long wharf, 73, 77 

Lord, Arthur, 384 

Lord Surrey, 126 
Lord, Wm. H., 230, 259, 342 

Lothrop estate, 261 

Lothrop, Isaac, 192 

Lothrop, Nathaniel, 262, 310 

Loud. Jacob H., 115 

Lovell. Leander, 35 

Loyalists, q 

Lucas, Joseph, 298 

Mackie. Andrew, 311 

Macomber, John, 140 

Madan Society, 331 

Main street, 12, 146 

Mansion house. 157, 260 



Marcy House, iiSi 264 

Market, 350 

Market street, 137 

Marine Insurance, 475 

Marriage, 49" 

Marriage laws, 496 

Marston, John, 401 

Mason, Albert, 174 

Mason, Jeremiah, 438 

Masonic building, 161 

Massachusetts Fire Society, 474 
Massachusets in the War, 389, 397 
Massachusetts troops at front, 396 

Masters of vessels, 30 

Matches, 492 

Mayflower Lodge, 54 

Mayflower relics, 496 

Maynard, Francis L., 176 

Maynard, Mrs., school, 177 

McKay, Donald, 48 

McKay, Nathaniel White, 48 

McKay's ships, 447 

McPherson, James B., 415 

Medford ship building, 48 

Meeting houses, 118, 322, 445 

Merrimac ship building, 48 
Merritt, Samuel, 106, 161, 185 

Middle street, 13 

Migration to Nova Scotia, 303 

Militia, 450, 452 

Militia law, 450 

Milk carts, 55 

Mill dam, 443 

Milman, Henry H., 134 

Moderator, 352 

Modes of travel, 437 

Monteth, ^ 507 

Morey, Wm., family, 144 

Morse, Anthony, 156, 272 

Morton, Ichabod, family, 307 

Morton, James, 304 

Morton, Nathaniel, 6 

Moustaches, 516 

Musters, 451 

Mysterious stranger, 126 

Nancy and Eliza. 13Q 

Nantasket Steamboat Co., 78 

Natural History Society, 187 

Naverino bonnets, 120 

Navy, 42Q 

Navy enlistments, 418 

Nelson, Wm., 297 

Nelson, Wm., family, 298 

Nelson, Wm. H'., 301 

New Guinea. 130 

Newport News. 401 

New streets, Boston, 444 

Nicolson, Samuel, 58 

Njcolson. Thomas, 82 

Nine months' men, 409 

North River ship building, 47 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



53<) 



North street, 14, 17, 26, 264 

Notes for prayers, 479 

N3-e, \Vm.. 33 

O'Connell, Daniel, 135 

Odd Fellows' building, 173 

Odd Fellows' Hall, 178 

Oehme, F. G., 310 

Officers and sailors, total, 418 

Old Bank house, 257 

Old Colony Bank, 168, 257 

Old Colony Club, 264 

Old Colony Democrat, 156 

Old Colony Hall. 146 

Old Colony Hotel, 19Q 

Old Colony House, 234 

Old Colony Insurance Co.. 

154, 168 
Old Colony Memorial, 

149. 179, 292 
Old Colony National Bank, 187 
Old Colony Railroad, 239, 408, 470 



158. 



Old tenor, 


349 


Olney, Zaben, 


^2,7 


Omnibus, 


4.39. 440 


Optimists, 


280 


Oranges, 


108 


Oregon steamer. 


24 


Orphicleide, 


17.=; 


Osgood. Samuel, 


360 


Otis Place, 


441 


Ovens, 


484 


Overcoats, 


521 


Ox-eyed Juno, 


290 


Packets, 


67, 70 


Paine, John S., 


53 


Paine's Hall, 


53 


Painters, 


53 


Pall bearers, 


480 


Palmer, Wm., 


323 


Parker, Dr., 


311 


Parker, Ebenezer G., 


15 


Paper, wood, 


471 


Parties, 


331 


Passing bell, 


480 


Patchwork, 


487 


Patent windlass. 


58 


Pattens, 


522 


Pn\Tie, John Howard, 


455 


Peace, 


333 


Peace Society, 


332 


Peel. Sir Robert. 


135 


Pemberton Square, 


442 


Pens. 


494 


Perkins, John, 


230, 231 


Perry, N. M., 


2.34 


Pessimists, 


289 


Peterson, Reuben, 


176 


Pianos, 


330 


Pierce. Ebene7:er W.. 


402 


Pierce. Tenatius, 


19 


Pin in throat. 


320 



240, 



27 



Pilgrim bones, 
Pilgrim burials. 
Pilgrim epidemic, 
Pilgrim Hall, 
Pilgrim House, 
Pilgrim name, 
Pilgnm plates, etc., 
Pilgrim Society, 16,26,27,334, 
Pilgrim wharf. 
Pinkies in Plymouth, 
Pipe smoking. 
Plagiarisms, 

Plague in Constantinople, 
PljTnouth Band, 
Plymouth bounds, 
Plymouth boys, 
Plymouth Cordage Co.. 
239, 
Plymouth County loan, 
Plymouth Hotel, 
Plymouth incorporated, 
Plymouth Rock. 
Plymouth Rock House, 
Plymouth Rock Guards, 
Plymouth Institution for 

Savings, 
Phmiouth Savings Bank, 

167, 168. 
Plymouth Tavern, 188, 

Plums. 
Police. 

Political parties, 
Pompev. =hvc. 
Pope. Richard. 
Popular aid. 
Porringers. 
Porter, Eliphalet, 
Portuguese, 
Postage. 
Post carriage. 
Post office. 
Postmaster, 
Po.st route. 
Potomac River. 
Potter, Richard. 
Potter ventriloquist. 
Powder house. 
Practical jokes. 
Preston. .Amariah. 
Preston. Hervey, N. 
Prince .\lbert. 
Privateers, 
Professor Channing, 
Professor I.ovcring, 
Professor Pierce. 
Provincctown. 
Public schools. 
Pudding*. 

Pnddine before meat. 
Puget Sound ire. 
Puget S<nmd piles, 



29 

325 

8 

17 
161 

28 
153 
357 

78 

45 
519 
504 
273 
^75 
7. 
399 

241 
163 
156 

7 

, 20 

15 

395 



167, 263 

187 

188, 194 

510 

447 

293 

123 

67 

396 

506 

360 

435 

180 

430 

145. 188 

lOT 
188 
403 

457 
25 
45-1 
140 
i8a 
176 
13=^ 
223 
34*^ 
347 
.346 
43": 
.34'^ 
484 
407 
108 
108 



183, 



.58, 



264, 



540 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



Purchased recruits, 418, 426 

Queen apples, 186 

Queen Victoria, I35 

Queen's ware, 507 

Quilting, 487 

Quincy, Josiah, 347 

Quota, 408 

Railroad cars, 464 

Railroad, Old Colony, 468 

Railroads, 464, 466 

Railroad ties, 470 

Railroads in England, 467 

Railroads in France, 467 

Rainbow, schooner, 71 

Raisings, 36, 489 

Randall, Wm., 137 

Rations, 399 

Razors, 515 

Rebel invasion, 231 

Recruits, 416, 417 

Reed, Nathan, 138 

Relay House, 403 

Reservoirs, 477 

Rickard land, 112 

Riggers, 57 

Ripley, Wm. P., 17 

Road at Eel River, 10 

Roasting Jack, 506 

Robbins, Chandler, T17 

Robbins, Henry Howard, 175 

Robbins, Josiah, 35, 265 

Robbins, Leavitt Taylor, 244 

Robbins lumber yard, 244 

Robbins, Samuel, 145 

Robbins, Thomas, 363 

Roberts, Robert, 120 

Robinson Iron Co., 263 

Rodman, Wm. L., 409 

Rogers. William, i'^ 

Rone Walk lane, 136, 267 

Rulings, 353 

Russell, Bridgham, 143 
Russell House, 199. 203, 200 

Russell, John, family, 271 

Russell, John, house, 270 

Russell, John. J., 271 

Russell, John J., family, 272 

Russell. LeBaron, 342 

Russell, Nathaniel, 201 
Russell, Nathaniel, family, 

202, 262 

Russell. N. & Co., 263 

Russell packet. 69 

Russell, Thomas, 123, 287 

Russell, Thomas, family, 123 

Russell, Wm. C, i!;4, 287 

Russell. Wm. S., i6s 

.Sabbath, 488 

Sail makers. 54 

Sale of liquors, 307 

Saltpetre, 171 



Samoset House, 238, 469 

Sampson, Schuyler, 294 

Sampson, Simeon, 46 

Sampson, Zabdiel, 293 

Scallop, 28 

Scarlet fever, 259 

School bell, 339 

School house, 338 

School, school street, 230 

Schools, 338 
School teachers, 147, 243 
Schooner, Daniel Webster, 222 

Schooner, Exchange, 64 

Schooner Maracaibo, 64 

Schooner Mercury, 64 

Schooners in Plymouth, 45 
Schooner Welcome Return, 220 

Schooner Vesper, 64 
Scudder, Alonzo D., 32, 34 

Second Brook, 11 

Second Boston Church, 197 

Sectarianism, 66 

Selectmen, 352 

Sever, Charles, 238 

Sewage, 46 
Sewall, Samuel, 6, 121 

Seward, Wm. H., 370 
Sexton, 260, 448 

Seymour, Webster, 54 

Sharpsburg, 413 

Shaving, 515 

Shaw's Brook, 11 

Shaw, Ichabod, 52 

Shaw, South worth, 52 

Shelburne, Nova Scotia, 9 

Sherley, James, 7 

Sherman block, 179 

Sherman, E. C, 173 

Sherman. Edward L., 315 

Sherman, Samuel, 143 

Ship Arbella, 62 

Ship builders, 446 

Ship fever. 8 

Ship heeling. 63 

Ship Great Republic, 49 

Ship Iconium, 42 

.Ship Levant, 63 

.Ship Massasoit, 46 

.Ship Mayflower, 61 

Ship Ocean Monarch, 28q 

Ship Royal George, 63 

Ships in Plymouth, 44 

Ship yards, 46 

Shipwrights, 57 
.Shoe business, 257, 258 

"Shootine Star schooner, 222 

Shurtleff, Nathaniel B., 379 

Sbnrtleff tavern, 139 

Shurtleff, Wm.. 137 

Simeon, Sampson, 46 

Simmons, Beulah, 55 



OF AN OCTOGENARIAN. 



Simmons, George, !^6 

Simmons, Lemuel, c^ 

Simmons, W m. D., 

Simmons, Wm. H., 

Singing school, 

Sirius steamship. 

Skippers, 

Slang phrases, 

Slave return. 

Slavery, 

Slave story, 

Slaves, 

Slaves in Plymouth, 128, 

Slave trade, 127 

Sleds, 

Sliding, 

Sloops in Plymouth, 

Small clothes, 

Smith, John, 

Smoking, 

Smoking laws, 

Smoot, Wm. H., 

Snake heads. 

Snare drum. 

Snuff, 

Soil, 

Soldiers, 
Soldiers killed. 
Soldiers total. 
Soldiers wounded, 
Sound of bells. 
South Boston, 
South Mountain, 
Spear, Wm. F., 
Spear, Wm. H., 
Speedwell, steamer. 
Spinning wheels, 
Spooner, Allen Crocker, 
Spooner, Bourne, 
Spooner, James, 
Spooner, James and Ephraim, 
Spooner, Thomas, 
Spooner, Wm., 33. 

Sprague, Peleg, 
Spring Hill, 
Stables, 
Stage drivers, 

Stages, -^d, 158, 

Standish Guards, 143, 387, 
3gi, 407, 409, 418. 
Standish, Joshua, 
Stanton, E. M., 
Star Spangled banner. 
Steamboats, 72, 76. 

Steamer Cambridge, 
Steam navigation. 
Steamer Savannah, 
Steamer Vanderbilt, 
Stephens, Lemuel. 55. 

Stevenson, Robert Louis. 
Stickney, J. Henry. 



, 68 Stoddard, Isaac N., 

235 Stones, 

33 Strap rails, 

53 Street lamps, 

54 Streets, 

465 Striped pig, 
94 Strong, Benjamin O., 

525 Sturtevant house, 

130 Sturtevant, Wm., 

128 Suffolk Bank system, 
130 Sugar baker's molasses, 
127 Sullivan, Wm., 

129 Summer street, Boston, 
359 Sumner, Charles, 
206 Sumner, George, 
205 Sunday bell. 

45 Sunflower. 

119 Surplus revenue, 

6 Talbot, Samuel, 

517 Taylor Brothers, 

518 Taylor, Edward, 
156 Teachers' marriages, 

466 Telegraph, 
176 Telegraph office, 
517 Tellers, 
510 Temperance Society, 
427 Thacher, James, 

430 Thacher. James, family. 
418 Theatre alley, 

431 Theft of peaches, 
340 The old lilac tree. 
443 Third Regiment. 395, 409 
410 Thirty-eighth Regiment, 
315 Thirty-second Regiment, 
315 Thomas Gamaliel, 
286 Thomas house, 
521 Thomas, John. 
284 Thomas. Joshua. 
239 Thomas, Joshua, family, 

31 Thomas, Priscilla. 

146 Thomas. Wm., 

242 Thompson, Cephas G., 

200 Thompson. Joseph P., 

.362 Thrasher, Joshua, 

143 Tinder box, 

437 Tinker's Rock. 

150 Three months men. 

4.38 Thurber, James, 

.390, Thurber. James D.. 

450 Tobacco. 

52 Tobcy. Edward. S.. 

4x4 Toll bridges, 

303 Tomato. 

498 Tomiinson. Russell. 

398 Tontine block. 

46=; Toothpicks. 

498 Torrey. Henry W., 

401 Touccy. Isaac. 

280 Town affairs, 

108 Town bell. 

27 Town house, 



541 

259, 340 
Sio 

464, 400 
448 
454 
452 
152 
267 
267 
296 
172 
360 
440 

369 
375 

339 
508 
436 
144 

17 

16 

268 

274 

185 

354 

36, 146 

238, 276 

279 
441 
26c; 
282 
419, 425 
408, 424 
408, 423 
171 
13 
238 
194 
194 
191 
194 
145 
378 
352 
403 
II 
410 
166 
425 
517 
2,77 
443 
!;o8 
318 
442 
510 
288 
307 

.3.'; I 

448 

.349. 350 



7>^< 



278. 



542 



PLYMOUTH MEMORIES 



Town meetings, 322, 349, 352, 417 

Townsend, Samuel R., 340 

Town Square trees, 513 

Town trees, 513 

Trees, 12, 508 

Tremont theatre, 456 

Tribble, Isaac, 53 

Tribble, John, S3 

Trombone, 176 
Troops at Fortress Munroe, 400 
Troops at Newport News, 401 

Troops in Washington, 393, 394 

Trousers, 521 

Trousers, tight, 161 

Trundle bed, 514 

Tug boats, 463 

TuHps, SC^ 

Tureens, 506 

Turner, David, 52, 166 

Turner, E. S., 38 

Turner, Madam Marie, 334 

Turner, Misses, 54 

Turner's Hall, 53 

Turnpikes, 439 
Twenty-fourth, unattached, 427 

Twenty-ninth Regiment, 420, 421 

Twenty-third Regiment, 408, 422 

Uncles, 23s 

Union building, 161 

Universalist Society, 114 

Upham, Charles W., 369 

Varioloid, 260 

Vaughn, Oliver C, 33 

Vaults, 460 

Velma Bark, 221 

Ventilation, 461 
Vessels of Edward Holmes, 219 
Vessels of Ezra Weston 

& Sons, 214 
Vessels of Joseph Holmes, 216 

Voting restrictions, 356 

Voyage in the Hibemia, 276 

Waffles, 485 

Wagons. 206, 437 

Waite, Return, 116 

Walker, John, 248 

Walking-sides, 455 

War appropriations, 395 

War meeting, 392, 394 

War of 1812, 223, 333 

War preparation, 390 

War ship Roanoke, 401 

Warren, Charles H., 364 

Warren, Henry, family, "160 

Warren House, 160 

Warren, Pelham W., 232 

Warren. Winslow, t6o 

Washburn, John, 146 

Washington, 302, 403. att, 

Washington, celebration, 381^ 

■^^''ashington street, 4/13 

Washington treaty, 88 



Watchmakers, 183, 184 
Watchmen, 448 
Water pipes, 233 
Watering Place, 11 
Water street, 26, 29, 30. 31, 52 
Watson, Benjamin M., 291 
Watson, Benjamin Marston, 196 
Watson, Benjamin Mar- 
ston, family, 196 
Watson, Edward W., 235 
Watson, Edward W., poem, 237 
Watson, George, 15 
Watson, Harriet L., 290 
Watson, John, 191 
Watson, Wm., igi 
Watson, Winslow M., 290 
Web fingers, 14 
Webster celebration, 1849, 387 
Webster, Daniel, 357 
Webster, Ervin, 185, 310 
Webster's oration, 127 
Wells, 114 
Wells, Horace, 275 
Wells, Phineas, 34, 35 
Whale fishery associates, 60, 61 
Wheeler, Charles S., 346 
White Elizabeth C, 140 
White, Gideon, g 
Whiting, Elisha, 33 
Whiting, Wm., 147 
Whitman, Wm. H., 314 
Whitworth, Miles, 9 
Whiskers, 515^ 
Weston, Benjamin, 58 
Weston, Coomer, family, 234 
Weston, Ezra, 216 
Weston, Ezra and Sons, 214 
Weston, Lewis, 58 
Weston, Patty, school, 9 
Weston, Thomas, 317 
Wilson, Henry, 379, 305 
Wine, ' ' 66 
Winslow, Edward, 7, 24 
Winslow house, 25 
Winslow, Joanna, 163 
Winslow, Pelham, 163 
'V^'inslow street. 15, 273 
Winter vegetables, " 486 
Winthrop Place, 441 
Winthrop Place. Boston, t6 
Winthrop, Robert C, 377 
Winthroo. Theodore. 309 
Whale fishery. cjg 
Wolff. Erick.' 414, 425 
'^^'ood. Charles James, 312 
Wood fuel. 470 
Wood's lane. 2-?8 
"'ond. Nathaniel, 282 
Word derivations, 1^23 
■\'(''r)rf1s and phrases, 523 
Wrecks, 93, 219 







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